"Rhythm" critical to Swayzee's chances

By Michael Guerin

Cam Hart will know who wins the Battle of the Brothers tonight before we do.

Not that the $1 million Race by Sport Nation at Cambridge tonight is simply a case of sibling rivalry between Leap To Fame and his older half-brother Swayzee. 

To paint it as such may be disrespectful to the very serious pacers hoping to stalk them then gate crash the family feud in the championship rounds of the 2200m mobile slot race (8.55pm).

But superstar New South Wales driver Hart, who partners Swayzee, says in all reality the real race will be over before then.

Hart is the man who knows how to beat Leap To Fame, having undone him with Swayzee three times in their nine meetings.

The recipe is always the same. Roll to the lead, get up a head of steam up and stay there.

Tonight he has the barrier draw (2) and the type of track, with Cambridge being 1000m and lightning fast, to give Swayzee his shot.

“The smaller track definitely helps,” Hart says.

“That is why we have beaten him twice at Melton in the last two Hunter Cups because he has to cover so much more ground than us on a smaller track, going around more bends.

“We also beat him at Albion Park doing the same thing, which again races a bit like Cambridge, and again it was over a longer trip which suits my horse and means Larry [Leap To Fame] has to work for longer.

“So I think this track and this draw suits better than say a mile at Menangle.”

Hart agrees with the general school of thought that Swayzee should be able to work his way to the front tonight, most likely off Captains Knock but possibly off Merlin, but says his early job is two-fold.

“Obviously I want to stay in front of Leap To Fame early but I also want to do it without getting my horse too far out of his comfort zone.

“Some horses love running the gate and are good at it but that is not natural for Swayzee and when I really have to burn him early it can take its toll later.

“What I like to do is get him going early and in a rhythm but not gas him to lead and if I can do that then I can drive him to go faster and faster the further we go.”

If Hart’s early plan unfolds then Leap To Fame will almost certainly be outside Swayzee, which raises the question why can Swazyee deny him sometimes but not others?

“The distance and the track size are crucial but for me most important is getting Larry off the bit.

“The times I have beaten him Grant [Dixon, driver] has been niggling at Larry at the 400m and then I know we can outlast him up the straight because not many horses can out slog Swayzee.

“But if I look across at the 400m and Grant hasn’t really gone for him yet then we are in trouble because that is when he beats us with his speed.

“To be honest, I will know at the 400m.”

There is of course the possibility the new kid on the block The Janitor could sit back enjoying the pacing pugilism in front and swoop late but that is harder that is sounds: the three times Swayzee has led and undone Leap To Fame the third placegetter has come from on the marker pegs.

That also doesn’t bode well for Kingman, who produced the greatest performance by a horse to defeat Leap To Fame by sitting three-wide outside him in last November’s New Zealand Cup.

Just how he finds a race-winning launch pad from the outside of the front line may be a puzzle not even his champion driver Luke McCarthy can solve.

You could dream up other winning scenarios for Captains Knock or the five Kiwis in the race but on the nine occasions Leap To Fame and Swayzee have clashed only one horse has beaten them both home.

That was Don Hugo in last year’s Miracle Mile when he led and sprinted too sharply. Don Hugo isn’t in this race, this isn’t a mile and Cambridge is not Menangle.

Which means barring something bizarre the Battle of the Brothers is also the story of this race.

And Cam Hart will probably know the winner at the 400m.

Kingman up against it in $1m The Race by Sport Nation

By Adam Hamilton 

Anyone who watched Kingman win the NZ Cup just five months ago won’t believe he is an outsider in tonight's $1m The Race by Sport Nation at Cambridge.

Kingman’s NZ Cup victory was one of the best performances of the modern era and certainly one of the greatest in the history of the great race.

Simply, if he reproduced that, he would make light work of a horror outside draw at Cambridge.

But the conundrum facing punters is what Kingman will we see at Cambridge?

That’s because his form has been indifferent this year, especially those two well below par runs in a Miracle Mile qualifier and the Mile itself last month.

Straight after the Miracle Mile run, his Cambridge trip was off.

But the five-year-old bounced back so well and so quickly, that changed in 48 hours.

Although Kingman hasn’t raced since the Miracle Mile a month ago, trainer-driver Luke McCarthy insists he’s ticked every box.

“He had the trial last week and did what I asked of him. His heart race was good after it,” he said.

“Now he’s had the trip over and settled in really well, so it’s so far so good.

“Sure I’d have loved a better draw, but we can’t change that.

“All we can do is have him as well as we can, which it seems like he is, and hope luck goes his way in the run.”

After a fairytale finish to 2025 with Kingman and his other star Don Hugo, it’s been a challenging start to 2026.

Although Kingman won the Shepparton Cup (beating Leap To Fame) during an extended Victorian campaign, he has raced seven times this year for one win, a second and a third.

And Don Hugo, who beat Leap To Fame in the Blacks A Fake last December, has also won just one of his five starts this year.

Plans to take him to Perth for next Friday’s $1.25 million Group 1 Nullarbor were shelved last week because of a health setback.

Kingman and Swayzee hold the record the most wins over Leap To Fame with three.

It’s a leap of faith to think Kingman can make it four given his recent for and awful draw at Cambridge.