$500,000 looms for Swayzee at Penrith

13 March 2025

The million-dollar bonus may be off the table but champion pacer Swayzee can still enjoy a huge payday when he heads to Penrith for the final leg of the Carnival of Cups on Saturday night.

Swayzee is already guaranteed a $250,000 bonus as the winner of the first three legs of the series but his hopes of landing the $1million on offer for a clean sweep of all five races were thwarted when runner-up in the Murray Cup at Albury.

He can still increase his bonus to a cool $500,000 if he can make it four wins by taking out Saturday night's Group 3 Renshaw Cup.

Swayzee has been terrific against the big guns in his last two outings at Menangle, proving too good at Group 2 level two back before he was locked away on the pegs when a luckless fourth in last week's Miracle Mile.

He was very strong through the line in that race and loves the staying distances so will relish getting up to 2525m at Penrith.

Along with his Carnival of Cups victories, Swayzee's deeds this campaign include three of the biggest prizes in Australasia – the Hunter, Victoria and New Zealand cups – so he represents the clear class factor of the race.

The horse that denied him the shot at the million dollars by winning the Murray Cup was Captain Hammerhead and he again could prove his biggest hurdle in the Renshaw.

He has copped wide draws in his last two Sydney outings but was tough at Albury where he pushed to the front to prevent Swayzee finding his preferred role as pacemaker before digging deep to hold him at bay in the surge to the line.

While Swayzee's struggles to handle the tight Albury track played a role in that result, Captain Hammerhead was very brave and with both starting from similar barriers on Saturday the scenario could be repeated.

Talented Queenslander Speak The Truth is a new challenger and while starting outside the above pair on the back row he is a horse capable of pushing forward.

He wasn't quite up to his best during the recent Sydney carnival but was terrific in last year's visit where he placed in the Miracle Mile after winning a qualifier from a wide barrier.

He'll be toughened up by the recent hard racing and has the talent to make an impact.

The big query of the race is former Nullarbor winner Betterzippit who returns after a year on the sidelines.

He's had his problems and didn't set the world on fire in a recent trial but he strikes at 50 per cent at the distance and trainer Jason Grimson's decision to kick him off in this race is noteworthy.