While the late payment was a shock, the preparation itself is just as radical, with Swayzee having cruised to victory in a A$60,000 Country Cup at Young (NSW) on Friday night before being loaded on to a Sydney-Auckland-Christchurch plane yesterday.
After that wacky week, if Swayzee can defend his title, it will go down as the wildest back-to-back New Zealand Cup double since Wildwood Junior won the New Zealand Cup in both 1909 and 1910 without racing in between.
Yes, you read that right – Wildwood Junior didn’t just win back-to-back New Zealand Cups, he won them as back-to-back races one year apart.
Tomorrow’s Cup looks a lot like the one Swayzee dominated last year, with the locals a good but not vintage bunch, with the exception of Merlin and Don’t Stop Dreaming.
Last year, Swayzee started from the same second-line draw he faces tomorrow but was able to get in front of his only real danger, Akuta, and as soon as he reached the pace-making role, the race was over.
Hart, the personable 25-year-old who has swept almost every major harness race in Australia in the last three years, says he would love a carbon copy of last year’s tactics.
“If we can weave a path through them and get around to the lead, then he would be very, very hard to catch,” he says.
“The race feels very similar to last year and Merlin looks the one to beat, but I am not sure he is going any better than Akuta was this time last year.
“My horse jogged his win on Friday, and as long as he travels over well, I think he is at least as good as last year.
“So if he beat Akuta, I think he can beat Merlin.
“I think he will beat the other ones, but he hasn’t raced Merlin or Don’t Stop Dreaming.”
Whether either of those Kiwis – or, less likely, anything else – can beat the best version of Swayzee may come down to driver intent.
If his rivals let Hart roll to the front in the middle stages, maybe they can divebomb him late, particularly as Merlin’s driver Zachary Butcher specialises in the perfectly timed attack.
But in reality, if running past Swayzee at the end of 3200m is your pre-race plan, you might need a new one.
There is also the chance Butcher or Blair Orange driving Don’t Stop Dreaming might get to the front and decide Swayzee won’t be gifted a yellow brick road to the Addington winners’ circle, forcing him to sit parked and outmuscle them.
Hart knows which option he would prefer but says a failed lead bid doesn’t mean defeat.
“If he has to sit parked, then I am still confident he can put them to the sword when I want and win.”
If one of the Kiwi favourites does deny Swayzee the lead, they may ultimately lose that battle, but it could also leave the big Aussie vulnerable to the other favoured Kiwi or Auckland Cup winner and renowned swooper Better Eclipse.
After one of the most dramatic build-ups in the history of this magnificent race, who wins may come down to that decision made in a fleeting moment on the second lap.
New Zealand Cup Day
What: New Zealand’s largest turnover domestic race day.
Where: Addington, Christchurch.
When: Tuesday, first race from 12.08pm.
Highlights: $1m New Zealand Trotting Cup (actually for pacers); $400,000 Renwick Farms Dominion Trot; $200,000 Woodlands Stud Sires’ Stakes; $200,000 Nevele R Fillies Final.
How to watch: Preview show on Trackside at 1.30pm Monday; race-day coverage starts from 11am on Tuesday.
The punt: Fixed odds, head-to-head and Same Race Multi every race, $100,000 guaranteed Quaddie R9-12.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
