Dawe and Swayzee pair up for million dollar feature

Excitement and anticipation is building for this Fridays $1,000,000 Sport Nation The Race and the $530,000 TAB Trot slot races at Cambridge.

The wins by Gus and The Janitor last Friday amped up the chat and with the Australian heavy hitters arriving this week and the all important draws on Tuesday, it’s all ahead of us.

The two slots races are truly Australasian events with Australians owning New Zealand trained horses and vice versa.

Rangiora owner Ronnie Dawe races Rakero Rocket, (Rock N Roll Heaven) the now Australian based pacer but he’ll have Swayzee racing for him on Friday.

“We were potentially going to bring Rakero Rocket, but he tapered off a bit so we decided to give him a spell. I talked to Jason (trainer Jason Grimson) and asked if he could sort something and that I’d rather have something decent. In the end we got Swayzee (Rock N Roll Heaven),” he said.

Swayzee will arrive in Auckland on Wednesday and by that stage the all-important barrier draw will be made for the 2200 metres feature.

“A bad draw for him is better than for some of them. At least he can do some work.”

Dawe raced his own horse Rakero Rocket in last year’s slot race finishing seventh and he says it’s a real buzz to have a horse in a $1,000,000 feature.

“Yeah it’s good. We like it (laughter). Last year we just had a bad draw. That was the problem. We drew one on the second line and got shunted right back so we didn’t really have a chance.”

After winning nine races in New Zealand, Rakero Rocket was sent to Australia to Jason Grimson’s stable where he instantly made an impact and his 1-47.5 mile win at Menangle in January showed what a high-speed horse he is.

After running second in the Newcastle Mile and third behind The Janitor and Swayzee in the Bioworma Sprint at Menangle, Rakero Rocket controversially missed out on a place in the Miracle Mile.

“I think they robbed us. He should have been there as far as I was concerned.”

Dawe says Rakero Rocket is now likely to start in the upcoming Interdominion series in Brisbane in July.

“I think he wants to take him to the Interdominions, but he needs to get a decent bit of weight back on.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink