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The current record of 1:54.8 was set by Kiwi raider Smolda in winning the Ballarat Pacing Cup in 2017, the second of back-to-back wins in the race.<\/p>\n
In their previous two meetings before last Saturday night, Kingman defeated Leap To Fame in last year’s Group 1 Victoria and New Zealand Cups.<\/p>\n
By no means a two-horse affair, there can be no discounting the chances of the evergreen Bulletproof Boy.<\/p>\n
The 11-year-old holds recent wins over both Kingman in the Bendigo Pacing Cup and Leap To Fame in the Listed Smoken Up Sprint at Melton last October and was at the peak of his powers at Bendigo a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n
The state’s leading trainer, Cardigan’s Emma Stewart will be represented by Mach Dan, back from a tilt at the Hobart Pacing Cup in which he finished second earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Rowse said the club was equally excited to have champion mare Keayang Zahara lining up in the $75,000 Group 2 Ballarat Trotters Cup (2200m).<\/p>\n
The Marg and Paddy Lee-trained five-year-old will be chasing her 22nd win from 23 starts after running her rivals ragged in the Group 1 Maori Mile (1720m) at Melton a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n
“She is homing in on a million dollars, with her lifetime stakes at $925,035,” Rowse said.<\/p>\n
“She won’t break the million dollar barrier on Saturday night, but she will get awfully close.<\/p>\n
“She’ll undoubtedly get there in the next few weeks. There isn’t too many million dollar trotters around.<\/p>\n
“She’s a freak.”<\/p>\n
Her main rivals again appear to be last weekend’s Group 3 Shepparton Trotters Cup winner Im Bobby and Arcee Phoenix, second in both the Maori Mile and Shepparton Cups.<\/p>\n
Rowse said the addition of the $50,000 Group 3 Make Mine Cullen (1710m) made the program for this year’s Cup night one of the best put together in Ballarat in years.<\/p>\n
The race is headlined by McCarthy’s champion mare Eye Keep Smiling, a winner of 28 of 40 lifetime starts for more than $800,000 in earnings.<\/p>\n
Rowse said early dining and beer garden package sales had been encouraging, with plenty of live music and kids activities planned to keep people entertained, on top of the popular Punters Club.<\/p>\n
“We have probably focused a bit more on the kids area this year than we previously have,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve sowed on the grass there, so it will be a lot more comfortable and less dusty for the kids and families.<\/p>\n
“We then supplement our activities around the place with a lot of food trucks, which normally take a good dollar on the night.”<\/p>\n