Hugo heading to Brisbane

REIGNING Miracle Mile harness racing champion Don Hugo (Art Major) will add to the class on show at the revamped Brisbane Summer Carnival.

In a switch of plans, the former Inter Dominion winner will lock horns with Leap To Fame in the $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake on December 6.

The pair could even clash as soon as Saturday week’s $75,000 Group 2 Sunshine Sprint at Albion Park.

McCarthy and owner Tony Licastro changed targets after Don Hugo ran a massive race, but was beaten into second spot by Captains Knock in the opening leg of the NSW Carnival of Cups at Wagga last Friday night.

“We talked and Brisbane just makes sense now,” McCarthy said. “If we stay home we run in a $20,000 free-for-all (at Menangle) and have to draw badly in a $60,000 race at Newcastle.

“But if we go to Brisbane we’ve got a $75,000 race and a $250,000 race and both are random draws.”

Don Hugo should be primed after two runs back.

“I couldn’t ask any more of him at Wagga. The draw didn’t help and we ended up a long way off the winner, but he smashed the clock and kept coming. I was really happy with the run,” McCarthy said.

“He’s a horse who thrives on racing, so it should bring him on again.”

Before then, McCarthy’s focus is on NZ again with Kingman, who he trained and drove to win last week’s iconic $NZ1 million NZ Cup.

Even hardened locals described it as one of the biggest performances in the 120 year-plus history of the Cup.

Kingman is $1.45 favourite to add Friday night’s $NZ125,000 Group 1 Christian Cullen to his CV.

“It made sense to stay once we’d gone all that way and he gets back against his own age (four-year-olds) for this race,” McCarthy said.

“He’s come through the Cup well and we decided to skip the free-for-all last Friday and wait for this race.

“I fast worked him this morning (Wednesday) and he felt great.”

McCarthy isn’t fazed by a drawing outside the front row (nine) over 2600m.

“He gets back to a mobile, which suits better than a stand, and I can just balance-up and work forward from there,” he said.

Kingman is booked on a flight from Christchurch back to Sydney next Wednesday.

“He’s not going to Brisbane. I’ll give him a little freshen-up and then we’ll target those Cups in Victoria with him, starting with the first of them at Bendigo (January 10),” McCarthy said.

McCarthy will be back in Victoria much sooner than that.

“I’m on a 6am flight (from Christchurch) to Melbourne Saturday morning to drive a few in the Vicbred finals for Mick Stanley at Melton that night,” he said.

They include Queensland Oaks winner Soho Americano, who is favourite to win the $100,000 Vicbred final for three-year-old fillies from gate three.

by Adam Hamilton for Harness Racing Australia