Tact Mcleod readies for Hunter Cup

Brilliant weekend Menangle harness racing winner Tact Mcleod (Sweet Lou) is on his way to Victoria to chase a start in the state’s time-honoured feature, the Sportsbet A G Hunter Cup.

The one-time Inter Dominion fancy, who was ruled out of the series due to a foot abscess, will head to the Anthony Butt/Sonya Smith barn today to begin preparations for a likely start in the Bendigo Pacing Cup on January 4.

Butt said trainer Mark Jones and connections would then decide a path towards the Hunter Cup on February 1. This could include a run in the Shepparton Pacing Cup on January 11 and/or the Ballarat Pacing Cup a week later.

“He was really good on Saturday night and Mark said he missed a little bit of work leading into it with that foot abscess, so he was treating it like a bit of a trial,” Butt said.

“He was really impressive.”

Tact Mcleod led and raced clear to win Saturday night’s opening event at Menangle by nearly 8m to give Kiwi reinsman Sam Thorney victory in the Australasian Young Drivers Championships.

TACT MCLEOD REPLAY

The emerging star finished seventh in last month’s New Zealand Cup behind Swayzee and then ran fifth to Merlin in the Group 1 NZ Pacing Free For All three days later.

He has won nine of 23 career starts and is currently on the fourth line of betting in early Hunter Cup markets.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria