History tells us that when the McCarthy family line up for the Grand Circuit opener, the Garrard’s Queensland Pacing Championship, more times than not they will collect the lion’s share of the prize.
McCarthy horses have won 8 of the last 10 Queensland Pacing Championships with only the great Blacks A Fake spoiling their clean sweep of the state’s richest race during the decade.
Seven of the 8 winners have been driven by Luke McCarthy, the other by his father John, while Luke, his wife Belinda and John have shared the training honours.
The family’s domination of Brisbane’s richest race started in 2004 with Cobbity Classic taking the spoils, then the next two were won by Luke’s mighty Slipnslide.
After the Blacks A Fake’s double, it was Luke and John combining with Mr Feelgood to complete a 2010/11 QPC double, with Washakie (John and Luke), Ideal Scott (Belinda and John) and For A Reason (Belinda and Luke) winning the next three editions.
Four of the McCarthy clan are set to play a major role in Saturday night’s Group 1 $200,000 feature at Albion Park.
Driver Luke and trainer Belinda, who shoots for a QPC hattrick, team up with last week’s G1 Gold Coast Cup winner Bling It On, Luke’s little brother, Todd will drive the Darren Elder trained Shannonsablast and their father John trains and drives Monifieth.
Luke has his tail up after last week’s Gold Coast Cup.
Superbly prepared by Belinda, Bling It On looked right back to his very best and has been primed for his 2015 ‘grand final’.
“He is not nominated for the Inter Dominion so this is his grand final for the year,” Luke said in a radio interview today. “He needed a couple of runs to bring him back to his best and he has now peaked for the group ones, he will be right in the mix again this week.“
Bling It On has drawn the second row for the 2680 metre staying test and will start from gate 10.
After the QPC, Luke said that Belinda plans to set Bling It On for the Shirley Turnbull Memorial (NSW) and the Victoria Cup (Vic).
John and Todd have drawn side by side on the front row.
Many considered John’s horse Monifieth a little unlucky to not gain a start in last week’s Gold Coast Cup after showing good NSW form while Shannonsablast couldn’t take advantage of a plum draw last week.
“The horse has not had luck on its side since arriving in Queensland,” Shannonsablast’s trainer Elder said. “We got the draw last week but the way the race panned out it ended up being the worst thing for him. “
Shannonsablast is heading towards the Perth Inter Dominion and the stable is hoping for a win to shoot him up the order in the rankings. “He needs to be top 30 in the rankings so we will need a good result to get him up the order,” the trainer said.
Todd has driven Shannonsablast 13 times, winning twice he is hoping to make it three so he too can have his name written on the Queensland Pacing Championship honour board.
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