Lochinvar Art out!

Harness racing’s superstar pacer Lochinvar Art will miss the Miracle Mile.

In a surprise move, trainer-driver David Moran confirmed he would spell his stable star and completely miss the riches in NSW in coming weeks.

It’s the second successive year Lochinvar Art has missed the Miracle Mile after running a fantastic third in Australia’s premier sprint race as a four-year-old in 2020.

“I’ve been tossing it in my head for a few days,” Moran said.

“When I saw him in yard the other day, laying down. That told me he was a tired horse. He’s been great to us, he deserves a break and he’ll get it now.

“It won’t be long out, maybe three weeks or, then I’ll bring him back and we’ll have a crack at those big races in Queensland in winter.”

Moran’s decision comes after just three comeback races with Lochinvar Art, the latest a fifth in the Hunter Cup last Saturday.

He had spent 11 months sidelined with a hoof and then leg injury.

“He’s just not where he was at a year or so ago,” Moran conceded.

“He’s not that far off it, but close is not good enough when you’re in the biggest races like this.

“It was always going to be a race against time for these races. I had to screw him down for them, but he couldn’t have gone either way.

“I think he’s just tired now. He’s had a long, slow build then two trials and three races in such a short time frame. It’s all caught up with him.

“He can have some time out now and I’ll bring him back up my way and we’ll have a crack at Queensland.”

Moran is confident we will still see the old, almost invincible Lochinvar Art, of late 2020 and early last year.

“Even though this campaign didn’t work out as we hoped, there were lots of positives from it,” he said.

“His soundness is great. It’s just not an issue at all. And he’s shown he can still be very competitive, but it’s just that extra five per cent or so, that thing which made him so special before the setback. That’s what we need to get back. I think giving him a break and starting again will help a lot.”

Lochinvar Art won nine of his 10 starts (and ran second in the other) in a dominance splurge through late 2020 and culminating with last year’s Hunter Cup win.

With Lochinvar Art out of Miracle Mile contention, King Of Swing’s hopes of an unprecedented third successive win in the $1m race certainly get a big boost.

His major rivals now look to be his own Team McCarthy stablemates Expensive Ego and Spirit Of St Louis, Inter Dominion winner Boncel Benjamin and potentially four-year-olds like Krug, Bondi Lockdown and Act Now.

Expensive Ego and Boncel Benjamin are set to clash in Friday week’s Group 1 Newcastle Mile where only the winner is guaranteed a Miracle Mile berth.

By Adam Hamilton for News Corp