Captains Knock in another blistering performance

The horse of the moment Captains Knock (Captaintreacherous) provided yet another awesome spectacle when he led all the way to defeat a talented harness racing field in the Listed AD Turnbull Free For All at Menangle on Saturday evening.

The race attracted a great deal of interest as it saw the return of outstanding pacer Swayzee who was returning since being runner up behind Kingman at Menangle in October. He had a number of setbacks which prevented him trying for a third New Zealand Cup in November.

However the expectation was that Captains Knock having won his last five starts would have the edge on fitness.

And at the release while Captains Knock commenced brilliantly to race to the early lead, Swayzee wasn’t the best away from barrier two and stand in driver Will Rixon was able to secure a one out and one back trail with Ripp outside the leader.

Bainbridge had the trail behind the leader. Driver Brad Hewitt got a breather with his second quarter in 29.7 seconds. However he ran his third quarter in 27.2 seconds to put the pressure on those behind him. Swayzee seemed to be making heavy weather of trying to gather in the leaders. Ubetcha Tigerpie who had been three back on the rails made a run in the home straight but Captains Knock kept going by Hewitt was too strong at the finish and he scored by just on two metres. Ubetcha Tigerpie ran a brave second just ahead of Swayzee who showed his usual stamina in continuing to fight on. He will be improved by the run.

CAPTAINS KNOCK DEC 13 REPLAY

Overall Captains Knock rated 1.50.2 for the mile and his sixth won on end.

Brad Hewitt has yet to work out what Captains Knock’s immediate targets are.

He’s going great. We’re not too sure where he’s going next. We’ll have a break now, whether or not he goes to the Shirley Turnbull at Bathurst on 26 December that’s the main race but the Goulburn Cup is the week after. I have to sit down and work out a plan.

Both the Shirley Turnbull and the Goulburn Cup are worth $40,000. The next couple of months in Sydney there’s some great money. So hopefully we can get a bit more of it.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink