Kango starts his march toward the New Zealand Cup

One of the big harness racing improvers in the Open Class pacing ranks over the last 12 months returns for a new campaign on Thursday night at Alexandra Park.

Kango (American Ideal) hasn’t been sighted at the races since finishing a gallant third after missing away in the Group One Auckland Cup in May.

He lines up in the eighth on the card on Thursday night with Benjamin Butcher off the back mark of 35m on the back of a tidy trial at Cambridge 10 days ago.

Speaking with his trainer Arna Donnelly, punters shouldn’t read too much into his sixth placing and says the winner of 10 races and $210,000 in stakes has been impressing her in his work.

“He run his last half in 55 and a bit at Cambridge and I didn’t want him getting involved in anything too serious because I had taken him up to Pukekohe the week before and had a private workout,” said Arna Donnelly.

“He was there just to follow them round more than anything and I was really happy with him. He also had another nice run here at home with the galloping pacemaker here on Saturday.

“He’s still going to probably need the run and it’s going to be hard off the 35m over the 2200m and whatever he does this week he will be an improved horse.

“He’s done really well with his spell and is holding his condition well and looks great. We are probably just waiting for his coat to turn and in the next couple of weeks he should be just about spot on,” she said.

The big strapping son of American Ideal may have been a late bloomer in getting to the races, but once there as a four-year-old, he quickly put the pacing ranks on notice winning five of his first six starts in the North Island.

After dipping his toes in the deep end of the Open Class ranks in contesting some of the North Islands’ earlier features, Donnelly knew she had a horse capable of footing it with the country’s elite pacers. With the New Zealand Cup as the main target, Kango was sent on a southern sojourn late last season after changes to the racing calendar prompted his trainer to rethink her strategy around how she targeted some of the bigger races available to her and the Cambridge team.

Kango was solid in his first trip away from home last spring and despite failing to fill a placing in six feature race starts, as history has since shown he was definitely a better horse for the experience.

“He went down there a boy and came home a man,” said Donnelly.

“We never had any intention of winning too much down there, it was more about getting him used to racing the better class horses and get him used to running those times you need to at the top level. He came a long way in a short space of time and as you saw through the beginning of this year, he proved it’s done him the world of good.

“Coming back and winning the Franklin Cup on New Year’s Eve was awesome because it was so unexpected. But to bring him back down to Addington a few months later and get our first group race down there in the Superstars Championship was super,” she said.

Kango closed his campaign with a third placing in the Auckland Cup and it took an otherworldly performance from Self Assured to get him a week earlier in the Roy Purdon Memorial.

As the Open Class pacing ranks heat up on the road to the New Zealand Cup, Donnelly plans to follow a similar path to the last campaign with one minor change to his preparations.

“We are going to stay here and race in the Spring Cup next week. Then he heads south on the Monday after that, and his first assignment will be the Methven Cup.

“We are intending to head to the Flying Stakes at Ashburton and will probably skip Kaikoura this year, we only raced in that because it was at Addington, and then he will likely go to the Cup trial to polish him off for the Cup,” she said.

Kango is joined by four stablemates in the eighth on the card on Thursday night and another son of American Ideal in Taipo looks to be a leading chance after a bold run fresh in behind Old Town Road a fortnight ago.

He’s another to have benefited greatly from his time in the paddock after his own Canterbury visit last spring resulted in wins at the Kaikoura meeting and a solid third placing on Show Day at Addington and finds himself on a 10m mark for tomorrow night’s assignment.

“A lot of things probably just didn’t go to plan with him when we took him south, we had a couple of hiccups where he probably tapered away with his racing and then he started missing away from the standing start, but we seem to have that under control.

“I think the 2200m tomorrow night is right up his alley, he’s probably better suited to that distance than the 2700m and if he gets a good trip in transit he shouldn’t be too far away. He will probably stay home and race around here a wee bit and is unlikely to go south at this stage,” she said.

Outlaw Man (Sweet Lou) is one of three runners of the front mark over the 2200m journey, but Donnelly thinks his best efforts might be a few weeks away at this stage.

“He’s an honest horse and probably thrown in the deep end a little bit here the way the ratings have worked out. It usually takes him two or three runs to show his best work and it’s his first go from the stand tomorrow night. He will be one to watch once he gets a good draw in a mobile, he’s very good in front that fella.

Rough And Ready (Somebeachsomewhere) and New York Minute (Art Major) join Taipo as the sole 10m markers and Donnelly thinks they could sneak under the guard of punters on Thursday night.

“Rough And Ready has actually been racing quite well without a lot of luck to be fair. It’s been hard off the marks chasing all the time and he gets into this race quite nicely off 10m. If he gets a good trip in transit, he won’t be far away from them.

“The same with New York Minute, he was pretty unlucky last week when he bobbled early and hooked a shoe, and then he had a skip. His sectionals were pretty good for his last half coming home in 54 or so which isn’t really his go, he’s another one who if he steps clean and has the pace on throughout, he should be a nice show,” she said.

Earlier in the night in race six, Donnelly lines up last start winner, A Flyin Spur (Pegasus Spur), with the aptly named four-year-old trotter racing in career-best form with a last start win over champion trotter, Temporale.

“He’s actually on the truck with Kango in a fortnight heading south. It’s great to have a nice trotter in the barn because we haven’t really had that many. There’s nothing better than sitting behind a good-going trotter that’s for sure.

“He’s always had the ability but just hadn’t quite put it together mentally but now he seems to have hit his straps and his confidence is high so hopefully that carries on. We have a cheeky nomination for the Dominion but whether that happens or not will be decided by how he comes up over the next few runs. We are looking forward to his future that’s for sure,” she said.

She also lines up the four-year-old mare, Pacing Hope, in the fourth on the card and despite being drawn widest on the second row, Donnelly expects her to give her usual honest effort.

“I actually thought she went really well last week but she has come up with a horror draw and she’s going to find a bit of luck from out there.

Race seven sees Donnelly line up a pair of classy three-year-old’s with Crusader and the blue blood Perfect Bet set to take on a handy field of intermediate pacers.

“I was reasonably happy with Perfect Bet last week, they smoked along, and then she copped a bit of a check on the bend. Her aim is the Nevele R Fillies heat here next week so we are looking forward to another run under her belt and see what she can do against the quality fillies of her age.

Crusader will have his first trip over the Bombay Hills having opened his career with six starts at Cambridge Raceway earlier in the summer where the son of Art Major barely put a foot wrong.

“He was pretty much locked out of racing at Auckland when Covid hit so he did most of his racing here at Cambridge.

“He’s another really nice horse and I have a bit of time for him. He’s first up that way round but he had a trial at Pukekohe a couple of weeks ago and a few workouts now so hopefully he will be a bit fitter for the run. It’s probably not a bad draw for him first time up at the park and whatever he does tomorrow night he will improve on,” she said.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink