Cup win the icing on the cake of busy week for Sydney breeder

“It’s so satisfying to win such a prestigious Group 1 race.”
Those were the words of successful Sydney businessman Mick Harvey after watching his homebred four-year-old Kingman outgun a top-class field in the $250,000 Victoria Cup (2240m) at Melton last Saturday night.

Despite an early miscue, the Always B Miki entire produced a blistering final 800 metres in 53.8 seconds to relegate Hi Manameisjeff and champion Leap To Fame into the minor placings in one of Victoria’s signature spring features.

Kingman has now won 13 of his 33 starts and banked $340,469. Alongside his Victoria Cup triumph, his résumé includes the 2024 Tasmanian Derby and several Free-for-All victories at Menangle.

“We’re entertaining the idea of running him in the New Zealand Cup. I’ve never had a runner there, and it’s one of the races I’d love to be part of,” Mick said.
“I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve won most of the features including the Hunter Cup, Miracle Mile, Blacks A Fake and Breeders Crown.”

Earlier the same day, Harvey’s galloping mare Vivy Air—which he part-owns—recorded her most significant success in the $160,000 Big Dance Wildcard at The Everest meeting at Randwick.

“She’s going to run in The Big Dance at Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day. It’s a three-million-dollar race,” he said.

“I used to have mainly Thoroughbreds, but I’ve fallen in love with the Standardbreds and had a lot of great fun with them.”
Remarkably, Kingman is the first pacer Harvey has bred.

“I really liked the great Kiwi mare Elect To Live. I raced Kingman’s dam Gotta Go Dali Queen, who is a granddaughter of Elect To Live,” he said.

Gotta Go Dali Queen won eight races—five at Alexandra Park and one at Melton—earning almost $90,000.

“I also bought her half-sister My Harmony Blue. Their mum Gotta Go Harmony was a good horse as well.”

The $106,000 earner My Harmony Blue left the Menangle winner Harmony as her first foal. Harvey also purchased two unraced siblings of Gotta Go Harmony—Glenferrie Elect (by Christian Cullen) and Gotta Go Electowatch (by He’s Watching).

“Glenferrie Elect produced a Group 1 winner for me in Captn Me, while Gotta Go Electowatch threw a nice two-year-old this year in Rewatch, who went 1:53 winning first up, ran second in the Bathurst Gold Crown and then galloped in The Protostar.”

“Just to see everything come to fruition is so rewarding and satisfying. I put significant time into identifying and selecting horses. Speed is very important in breeding—I look for certain nicks and percentages and put a lot of emphasis on the female side.”
Harvey said his long-term approach to investing in broodmare families is paying dividends.
“I invested in a few families that didn’t have massive pedigree pages at the time, but now they’re going gangbusters. It vindicates everything I’ve done. Take King Of Swing for example—he was out of a good mare, but Bettor Twist and Mach Dan, who belong to the same family, hadn’t raced then. Now Bettor Twist has the most Group 1 wins of any NZ female pacer and Mach Dan has won over a million.”

He is currently breeding from two close relatives of Bettor Twist—Bettor Give It and Spandau Ballet—the latter being the dam of this year’s Maryborough Pacing Cup and Menangle winner Le Twist. Another key member of his broodmare band is Naiya Franco (by Mach Three), a half-sister to top racemare Nike Franco. From only three foals of racing age, she has already produced Group 1 Bathurst Gold Crown winner Ripples and dual Melton victor Samkerr.

Altogether, Harvey owns around 20 broodmares split between his Berrima property in the NSW Southern Highlands and Woodlands Stud near Auckland.
While King Of Swing is undoubtedly the best horse Harvey has raced, his first big headline act was Hectorjayjay (by Dream Away).
“He was unbelievable—such an exciting horse to race and watch. He was freakish but unfortunately plagued with injuries,” he said.

Other notable performers for Harvey include the ill-fated Major Trojan (2019 Western Australian Derby), The Chandon (Victorian country cups winner), Can’t Refuse (NSW Derby runner-up) and the smart racemare Ripples.

And while the racetrack remains front of mind, Harvey’s attention has also turned to the media side of the sport.
“Last week I was approached about taking over the Harnesslink website. I’d love to put back into the industry—it’s been very good to me,” he revealed.

“Harnesslink has a strong and respected foundation, thanks to the dedicated work of John Curtin. My goal is to build on that legacy and introduce a few enhancements to keep the platform evolving. With social media playing such a big role today, it’s essential that Harnesslink strengthens its presence across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to reach and engage a wider audience. It already delivers a truly global perspective with strong coverage in North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—I’d love to see that extended further into Europe, and we’ve already begun conversations. Our aim is to ensure that anyone who wants to follow a horse or stay connected to the sport has easy access to the information they need. There’s always room for improvement, and with some thoughtful updates, I believe we can make Harnesslink even better for fans and participants alike.”