With less than four weeks until Australia’s richest Group 1 race, the $1.25mil TABTouch Nullarbor, TABTouch have confirmed their slot with the Jason Grimson-trained Hot And Treacherous NZ set to head to the west.
Jason Grimson is familiar with Nullarbor success after last year's win with Betterzippit, the TAB touch/Grimson team will be looking to go back-to-back in the feature, with driver Cameron Hart taking the reins as he did last year.
A recent addition to the Grimson stable, Hot And Treacherous NZ sits at three wins from five starts for the NSW-based trainer, including an impressive win at Menangle last Saturday night (March 23).
Hot And Treacherous NZ raced at top level in New Zealand before heading to Queensland where he finished third in last July's Group 1 Blacks A Fake for trainer Jack Butler.
He later ran in the Inter Dominion series in December 2023, gaining a spot in the consolation.
"He hasn't won a big race yet, but he placed in The Blacks A Fake behind Leap To Fame and raced against horses like that, so he's got a lot of quality about him," Hart said.
"I think the Menangle racing is definitely going to strengthen him up, especially racing the times he has to week in and week out in Sydney. I think he's getting better and like I said he's always shown a lot of promise.
"I think in the next season or so he will definitely, well, hopefully reach those heights that have always been expected of him."
Hart confirmed that although he's a large horse in stature, he's extremely well gaited and I can't see the smaller circuit being an issue, with his versatility sure to be an asset.
"He can lead or sit up and use his speed," he said.
"Going into a race like that you don't want to be going over there a one trick pony, I think he can sort of do it all. "
Grimson, Hart and TAB Touch lapped up the win last year in the first year of the Nullarbor and they will be hoping to remain unbeaten in the feature, but Hart mentioned it's hard to compare the two horses to one another.
"It's sort of hard to compare (Betterzippit and Hot And Treacherous), when we took Betterzippit over he was really airborne at the time and racing really well but I think he's right up there with ability," he said.
"If he reaches the heights that people thought of him in the past, he could even be better."
Hart went into last year's Nullarbor with just one drive at Gloucester Park under his belt, but the win in the then $1million feature was one to be remembered.
"It was unbelievable to win the first year that it was run and it was the first time I had driven at Gloucester Park, I had only been once before to have a look around," he said.
"It's obviously a great atmosphere with the track being still in the city, it's obviously a different style of racing compared to what I'm used to in Sydney, so it's great to be involved and that's why I was so thrilled to get a slot back to take one of Jason's horses over."
With the Group 1 $300,000 Retravision Fremantle Cup scheduled just seven days later, it's expected that Hot And Treacherous will take on that feature, too. But Hart is adamant the step up from the 2600m to the 2900m in a week won't worry the pacer.
"I don't think that will worry him, a lot of the kiwi bred horses are used to running over the long trips throughout their career and as young horses, so I don't think that will worry him much," he said.
Hart recently celebrated 1000 driving wins and at just 25-years-old, he's experienced plenty of success, with 12 Group 1's to his name so far, but WA's style of racing is vastly different to that of NSW.
"It's definitely a different style of driving, obviously at Menangle its more speed racing, you find positions early and sort of stay there until the run home, but Gloucester Park there can be multiple moves, and play a bit of a chess match throughout the race and a lot of the drivers are quite aggressive as well," he said.
"You just have to go out there and drive their type of style and hope you have a bit of racing luck as well."
