The King’s rise a boon for Victoria’s new-look carnival

The scene is set.

Victoria’s revamped and re-energized Summer of Glory is the biggest winner from the stunning emergence of Kingman (Always B Miki).

When the potential $1 million bonus and new six-week schedule was announced about six weeks ago, there were sighs in some quarters.

Was it more lure just to get Leap To Fame down to Victoria much longer than just a hit-and-run raid on the Hunter Cup?

That was a natural take for the perennially negative, but the real benefits of the revamp and bonuses is much clearer for all to see now.

In the moments after Kingman’s epic and almost unbelievably huge NZ Cup win last Tuesday, his trainer-driver Luke McCarthy quickly switched the focus to Victoria.

“We’ve got one more race here (NZ) back at Addington (on Friday) and then he’s heading home for a freshen-up,” he said.

“We had planned to go to the Blacks A Fake, but now Victoria has the bonus, we’ll target all those Cups starting in early January.

“It’ll be more like a freshen-up than a break at home and then we’ll head to Victoria.”

With Swayzee’s career on hold and in limbo, the Kingman/Leap To Fame rivalry is the biggest and best thing in the game.

And Victoria will play host to the next phase of it, across three, four, maybe even five races.

A reminder, the legs of the Summer of Glory bonus series are at Bendigo (January 10), Shepparton (January 17), Ballarat (January 24), Cranbourne (January 31), Kilmore (February 7) and Melton for the Hunter Cup (February 14).

To snag the $1 million bonus, a pacer will need to any four legs, but they must include the Hunter Cup.

It is a stroke of genius.

Leap To Fame, who followed his NZ Cup second with victory in last Friday’s Group 1 NZ free-for-all, will return home to chase more Group 1 glory before heading to Victoria.

He’s got the Blacks A Fake in his own backyard at Albion Park on December 6.

Further to the Summer of Glory buzz, the associated $500,000 bonus on offer for trotters across the same six meetings is one of the main reasons the most exciting trotter in this part of the world, Keayang Zahara, stayed home instead of going to NZ.

“When we looked at how early she was in her campaign and the great options at home with those races and the bonus, the best thing was to keep her home,” co-trainer Paddy Lee said.

“We’ll probably go to Brisbane with her next month for the Great Square, if we can get the right flights, but then the focus will be on those Victorian races.”

by Adam Hamilton for Harness Racing Victoria