SA Cup a fairytale in the making for ‘Ace’

Border raiders from Victoria might appear to have the telling hand in an exciting South Australian Pacing Cup this Saturday (Oct 28) – but a win for hometown harness racing hero Culture King (Art Major) would deservedly bring the house down.

Culture King, known around the stables of Paul Cavallaro as ‘Ace’ has, in his trainer’s own words, “come back from the dead” after a bout of Enteritis three years ago.

The fact that he is racing at all defies the probabilities and expert medical opinions.

“The way he is now, it seems unbelievable really, that two or three years ago the vets (at Goulburn Valley Equine Clinic) told us to keep our phone with us because they were probably going to have to put him down,” Cavallaro said.

“They told us that if he got through the night, we’d reassess in the morning, because 90 percent of horses with it die, and of those who survive, they mostly die from complications in the year after,” he said.

“He lost 80 kilograms in five days but he’s a tough old bugger because he’s still with us, and look at him!”

Culture King and Hanging Fire, from the Greg Scholefield stable, were the only South Australian trained horses to qualify in Saturday night’s heats, although last year’s winner Wrangler NZ (now trained by Paul Cavallaro’s sister Angela Chapman) is on standby as first emergency.

“We’re just so proud of him.  He’s pretty special to us, every run we get from him is a bonus because we just love him,” Cavallaro said.

“When we got him back there was nothing of him and we were feeding him up to try to build his strength back up.  We were really just giving him some work just to get him healthy. As he went along he seemed really healthy so we decided to give him a go again,” he said.

“This prep was really his last go – we thought if he didn’t show us something we’d probably retire him. I don’t know if he will ever be the horse he was going to be, but each prep since he was sick seemed a bit better each time.”

Culture King made an emotional return to the winner’s circle three starts ago at Globe Derby on October 9.

“That was his first win in three years.  He was three wide then sat outside the leader and ran 1:55.8.  We were rapt – we thought ‘that’s a lot more like the old boy’, and I think he’s getting better all the time.”

Culture King qualified in the second heat on Saturday night, in what could only be described as an unconventional affair. Driver Gaita Pullicino grabbed the early lead on the favorite Like a Wildfire, but had her licence suspended for five weeks for mistaking the laps. Her error allowed the Victorian trained Platinum Stride (Shane Sanderson) a saloon passage to the lead and disruption to the field delivered some hard luck stories – including Culture King.

Watch the replay here: https://www-harness-org-au.akamaized.net/sa/GDC20102301.mp4

“He really didn’t have a lot of luck on Saturday night – Ryan (driver Ryan Hryhorec) was trying to angle across to that spot behind the leader in the early stages and, in hindsight, had he been able to get in there, he might have gone very close to winning,” Cavallaro said.

“From the 700 metre mark on he really got held up and I was just so proud of him how he worked home.  I couldn’t be happier with how he is and how he has pulled up. We’re just so excited to see what he can do next Saturday because that’s the one we would really love – it would be an absolute fairytale.”

Harness Racing South Australia’s decision to run heats for four of the state’s feature races proved a winner with an outstanding night of racing at Globe Derby Park.

Full list of qualifiers are:

SA PACING CUP: Hanging Fire, Tango Tara, Where’s The Gold, Perfect Stride, Hot Deal, Ultimate Vinnie, Platinum Stride, Western Sonador, Sahara Tiger, Culture King, Wrangler (emergency).

SA TROTTERS CUP: Powderkeg, Cyclone S Adams, Anywhere Hugo, Travel Bug, Blue Coman, Itz Trixon Time, My Used To Be, Hesallmuscle, Get Lucky, Hammers Law, Millys Magic My Bad Habits, Aldebaran Stiles (emergency).

SA DERBY: Lifeisbutadream, Nicely Spoken, Laylas Princess, Little Louie, Delightful Tammy, Our Vinnie, Hes All Torque, Cheerstolou, Lethal Louie, Powersofpersuassion, Supercharged (emergency).

2YO GOLDEN NURSERY: Bay Jim Major, Tilly Jayne, Star Man, Alive And Free, Tembie, Miss Idaho, Buzz Bomb, Lil Miss Crocker, Waitpinga Reactor, Test Of Assisi (emergency).

Fields and barrier draws will be released at 2pm Wednesday (Oct 25).

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink