Majestic Man set for what could be his Vic swansong

Could this weekend be the final time we see harness racing superstar New Zealand trotter Majestic Man (Majestic Man) racing here in Victoria?

Regular driver Brad Williamson isn’t putting retirement on the agenda just yet, but there’s every chance this Australian campaign could be the gun Kiwi’s last.

The veteran eight-year-old first ventured across the Tasman for the 2020 Great Southern Star and will have his 21^st start on our shores in Saturday night’s TAB Australian Trotting Grand Prix.

His multiple trips to this country have returned five wins – three of those at Group 1 level – to add to an overall record that boasts 24 victories from 88 starts and more than $770,000 in prizemoney.

“It all just depends how he continues to race,” Williamson said when asked if this would be Majestic Man’s last Aussie assault.

“Obviously being such a lovely horse, we don’t want to race him well out of form and see him go around and around not competitively.

“When we don’t think he’s competitive and he tells us he’s not up to it anymore, then we’ll probably look at retirement.

“He’s in good form over on this trip and he’s racing well, so I don’t think retirement is just right around the corner for him. If he keeps racing well, we’ll keep racing.”

While Williamson wouldn’t rule out another Australian raid in the future, it’s only because a number of top New Zealand squaregaiters have experienced setbacks that Majestic Man is here campaigning in early 2023.

“Some of the Kiwi horses, if they were all going over, we probably wouldn’t have been on this trip because he struggles to keep up with them here, let alone adding in all the Australian horses as well,” Williamson said.

Majestic Man has been based at Brent Lilley’s property in Bolinda, with Williamson’s father and trainer Phil joining him before the first-up triumph in the V L Dullard Trotters Cup on January 28.

Phil drove the Majestic Son gelding last weekend when third behind One Over All in the Waste Sense Trotters Cup, with Brad to fly over on Saturday to partner him in the Grand Prix.

The pair will start from outside the front row, with market fancies Im Ready Jet and Just Believe drawn in positions one and two.

“We just need a heap of speed on really,” Williamson said.

“We’ll probably just look at going back seeing as though there’s so many horses inside us that have a lot of gate speed.

“He’s just going to need a real genuine tempo to be a winning factor…”

Just Believe sits eight points clear at the top of the Aurora Australis leaderboard heading into the Grand Prix, which is the eighth and final leg of the series.

Jess Tubbs’ trotter can do no worse than tie with Majestic Man for the overall title, but for the Kiwi to salvage a share of the $50,000 bonus on countback he would need to win Saturday night’s race and have Just Believe finish last of the nine runners.

That result would give both Just Believe and Majestic Man 24 points overall, with each having two wins, one second, one third and one ninth placing throughout the series.

After Saturday night’s Grand Prix, Majestic Man will likely tackle March 4’s $100,000 Hammerhead Trotters Mile at Menangle before returning home to New Zealand.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria