Fire, smoke, chaos: Highway horror before Cranbourne Cup epic
As smoke ballooned from under the truck taking Kingman and Luke McCarthy’s stable stars to the Cranbourne Cup on Saturday, instinct took over for the horseman.
“We hear a bang and I just got out and saw smoke,” McCarthy recalled. “I just got the tailgate down and got them off the truck straight away.
“It could have been a lot worse."
“A couple of minutes later, the whole truck was in flames. There’s not much left of it.”
Kingman is one of the best pacers in the country and McCarthy immediately got him and the others, including Eye Keep Smiling and Steno off the Hume Highway, which would be closed by the incident.
“You just didn’t want them to be near any of that smoke, so walked him back to an exit about a kilometre away and then a trainer turned up with a float,” McCarthy said.
“But we were out in the sun for 45 minutes, he handled it pretty good.”
Nathan Jack’s truck just minutes after Kingman, Eye Keep Smiling, Steno and Sanchez are taken off to safety following the Hume Highway incident yesterday.
— Tim O'Connor (@chrissymonal) February 1, 2026
Seymour trainer Barry Malanczyn had been told of the horses on the side of the road and arrived with his float.
“He said you can take them back to my place, and I told them they were racing that night,” McCarthy said. “He said, just take it and drop it back when you're finished."
“He was great. He wouldn’t have known who we were.”
Kingman not only got to Cranbourne for the Cup, but he played his part in the epic contest, where champion Leap To Fame wore him down in the final couple of strides.
“I thought I had him,” McCarthy said. “It was just those last couple of strides where he got us. He is a champion Leap To Fame, I love him."
“But it had been a long day.”
Eye Keep Smiling was runner-up to Captains Mistress in the Angelique in track record time.
“We are lucky that everyone is all right,” McCarthy said. “You look back on it and it’s scary because you know what could have happened.”
After the adventures of Saturday, Kingman will have a week off before meeting Leap To Fame, who he has 3-2 head-to-head record against, in the Hunter Cup at Melton on February 14.
“If he won the Cranbourne Cup he would have been would be up for a $1 million bonus in the Kilmore Cup next week and I would have almost had to run him,” McCarthy said.
“He will have the week off and be ready for Leap To Fame in the Hunter Cup.”
