Inter Dominion queen takes aim at Kaikoura Cup

A surprise plan revealed just moments after winning the Brisbane Inter Dominion final will become reality at Kaikoura on Monday.

Triumphant trainer Jason Grimson, fresh from winning his third Inter Dominion in July, was asked where wonder mare Captains Mistress would head next.

To the surprise of everyone, Grimson said: “The Kaikoura Cup is a race we’d love to take her to.”

Some thought it was a throwaway line, but owner Mick Boots reaffirmed the target.

“It’s a race Jason really wants to win and it’s a Bucket List race for me, too,” he said.

“I’ve never been to Kaikoura but watched it on TV and thought how great it looked.

“It’ll be terrific to get there for the first time, especially with a mare like her.”

It represents a return “home” for Captains Mistress, who was a star filly in NZ for Nathan Williamson before moving to Sydney and joining Grimson’s Menangle stable late last year.

She’s gone from a star to a champion and potentially as good a mare as Australia has seen.

Captains Mistress has won 14 of her 15 starts this season and even the lone defeat was huge, when a luckless fifth to Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile.

She then turned to the tables on Leap To Fame to square their ledger 1-1 in the Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 18.

Captains Mistress has only raced twice since for an easy Menangle win on October 3, then the Group 1 Victoria Cup win on October 17.

Although she never looked in doubt, the mare wasn’t her explosive best in the Victoria Cup.

Grimson revealed she was in season and he and driver Cam Hart had “genuine concerns” about her on the night of the race.

Although she is trying standing-start racing for the first time on Monday, Captains Mistress did win a standing start trial at Menangle with race driver Cam Hart aboard back on May 13.

She started from the outside of four starters in the trial and stepped away well, quickly moving forward to take the lead.

“I’m confident she’ll step well and I like that she’s drawn the outside (at Kaikoura), too,” Hart said.

“Jase sent me a video of her saying he’s stoked how well she’s settled in. Bob Butt drove her in behind Minos (in work) and said how great she felt.

“I think the trip over will be good for her, too. She’s the sort of mare who does so well, she could get away on you.”

Hart is thrilled to be driving at Kaikoura for the first time.

“I’ve never been, let alone driven there. It just looks amazing on TV,” he said.

Captains Mistress is currently at $1.28 to win the Group 2 feature on Monday.

Grimson will have two runners and take the reins himself on second-stringer, Minos.

Minos, one of the finds of the Brisbane Inter Dominion series, should be fitter for two runs back from a spell and this should top him off well for the NZ Cup.

Of course, Grimson and Boots ruled out the NZ Cup for Captains Mistress a month or so back.

The other Aussie flavour at Kaikoura will be star Victorian trotting mare Rockinwithatttiude.

Although she is the class runner of the Group 3 South Bay Trotters’ Cup, being the lone 15m back-marker presents a huge challenge.

 

For complete race entries, click here.

by Adam Hamilton for Harness Racing New Zealand