The Captain the X-factor in Albury Cup intrigue

If there’s one horse in tonight’s highly anticipated $60,000 Albury Murray Cup that could spoil the “bush tour” party of harness racing champion Swayzee (Rocknroll Heaven), it’s five-year-old gelding Captain Hammerhead.

Prepared at Shepparton by astute trainer-driver David Moran, the “captain” has won 11 races with six placings from 32 starts and is about to be thrown in the deep end with some major races in mind.

“Swayzee is in sensational form and should win, but handling a tighter 800 metre track can be tricky. We raced in the Albury Cup last season with Curly James and it brought him undone,” Moran said.

“A lot of the other runners will be trying to push through and be on the pace. There’s a bit of gate speed off the front so it’s going to be an interesting race, but we’re excited to be part of it.”

Swayzee, trained at Menangle by Jason Grimson, is on target for the biggest payday in Australasian harness racing history if he can clean sweep the NSW Carnival of Cups series.  So far, he has won the Parkes, Young and Tamworth Cups.  With Albury and Penrith to come, victory in all five legs of the “bush tour” will pocket Swayzee’s connections a $1 million bonus.

Captain Hammerhead has posted six of his 11 victories at Melton. He also took out the Nutrien 3YO Colts and Geldings Final at Bendigo in August, 2023, and then eight days later won The Singo, worth $50K, at Menangle.

The pacer finished third in the Victoria Derby to Petracca and has contested such features as the Chariots Of Fire, the 2023 TAB Eureka and the Smoken Up Sprint.

Drawn in barriers 10 (Captain Hammerhead) and 11 (Swayzee), it will be a race of tactics and luck for the big guns as they burn up the tight 804-metre Albury circuit.

Captain Hammerhead (Captaintreacherous) was awesome in winning his home track Shepparton Gold Pacing  Cup last month, only to be disqualified by stewards because of Moran’s driving action in the final stages.

The five-year-old has been brought along carefully by Moran and the massive Shepparton Gold Cup run was Captain Hammerhead’s first back from a break after a short campaign in October.

Captain Hammerhead followed up the Shepparton run with a close-up fifth at Melton.

“The run in town was okay, but by keeping him racing it should make him a better horse,” Moran said.

“He’s a touch below the really best ones. But how long do you try and avoid them? You’ve got to take them on and find out where you are at.

“We were always going to Albury because with no free-for-all races around, it was looking four or five weeks between runs. We’ve got the Miracle Mile heats in Sydney pencilled in and there’s some nice races after that.

“The Albury Cup is good for the club, the town and the sport. I’m really happy to be part of it.”

Club President Paul Brown said there was quite a buzz around and “the town was up and about” as Swayzee’s bush tour bonus momentum builds.

“More than 6000 tickets for entry have already gone, so the area up the home straight will be full up. And there’ll be more than that by the time the meeting kicks off,” he said.

“Years ago, our New Year meetings would attract crowds like this. There’s lots of signage in the shops and the caterers are anticipating a big night so they’ll be here at 2pm. There’s going to be some good racing as we’re so pleased with the fields.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink