THE KROPP RACING STABLES UPDATE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The Matt Kropp and William Kropp Racing stables added another four winners between them in the second half of June.

The William Kropp trained Truck Stop Honey claimed her second career win when striking in a Band 0-58 Handicap over 1400m at Dalby m June 18.

The three-year-old daughter of Dubious was second-up after finishing down the field when resuming over 1015m at Toowoomba. She was always going to take a fitness benefit out of that first-up run and she really relished the step up in distance to 1400m, the same distance which produced her earlier Maiden win.

Truck Stop Honey’s liking for the distance was very much on display here … because she had to hit the line hard to fend off a wall of challengers. So too was her will to win … because she was baulked when caught in-between runners halfway up the straight (a scenario which could have ended her race) … but when daylight did appear and Fred Larson drove Truck Stop Honey towards the gap, the Kropp trained runner responded with meaning to surge forward and join the leading line of six horses spread right across the track, and then sustain that run to claim victory by 0.19 lengths at a starting price of $4.40.
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On June 20, Matt Kropp and William Kropp won successive races at Toowoomba … Matt Kropp scoring with Leg Drive in a Class 3 Handicap over 1625m and William Kropp finding success with Zousain’s Choice in a BM60 Handicap over 870m.

Leg Drive was having his first run for the Kropp stable. He had been trained by Matt Laurie who landed three wins from ten starts with the son of Grunt, who had taken a while to get to race action, having no less than seven jump-outs before making his race debut in December 2024.

After three starts, Leg Drive was again taken out of play for three months … and another three jump-outs … suggesting that he was very much a work in progress.
By the time he stepped out for Matt Kropp, Leg Drive was again nearly six months between runs, so for Kropp to have him ready to strike first-up was a fair training feat.

Adding further merit to the win was the fact that Leg Drive jumped from the worst of the draw (barrier ten out of ten) and carried 60.5kg … or, put another way, … 7kg more than the second and third placed runners who Leg Drive beat by 2.83 and 4.41 lengths respectively.

Chased up from the draw early by Harrison Shaw, Leg Drive settled in third place early … was chased up again approaching the home turn to corner in the leading line, four wide … and, once there, he kept going, never missing a beat to run right away from all opposition over the final 200m.

It was a stout effort, every step of the way.

Leg Drive won by 2.83 lengths at a starting price of $4.60.
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One race later, William Kropp had his winner!

That came in the form of the very lightly raced three-year-old gelding Zousain’s Choice who made it back-to-back wins when taking out a BM60 Handicap over 870m … the same track and distance where he had claimed his Maiden win two weeks earlier.

The son of Zousain was ridden by Harrison Shaw in both wins, so that horse / jockey combination currently holds an unbeaten record, as does Zousain’s Choice over the 870m at Toowoomba.

Zousain’s Choice (the $2.60 race favourite) was only ordinarily away, but Shaw rallied his mount early to settle in fifth place, three lengths behind the leader in the start of the sweep to the home turn. Zousain’s Choice moved up to fourth … then third … saving ground in the approach to the home turn, but his progress was slowed when he was faced with a wall of horses in front of him on straightening.

Shaw tried to push his way into the clear in what became a hectic charge as, once Zousain’s Choice found a gap, he had to be extremely hard ridden as he set about reeling in the $9 chance Goose Step who had skipped away in the first half of the straight and who wasn’t stopping.

It took the whole length of the straight for Zousain’s Choice to run Goose Step down, and it was only in the final strides that the Kropp runner put his head in front to score a hard-fought, last gasp win.

This result improved Zousain’s Choice’s race record to two wins and one minor placing from only four starts.
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William Kropp signed off the month with a winner at Kilcoy on June 30 … with Trusty Bandit taking the honours in a 0-58 Handicap over 1900m in a race contested on heavy going.

With Brandon Lerena in the saddle, Trusty Bandit ($5.50) was hard held racing just off heels when coming to the home turn and then travelling down the home straight for the first time … and Lerena was prepared to allow Trusty Bandit to hold a spot some five lengths off the lead going down the back stretch.

Lerena then began to fire up the Kropp trained runner from the 600m mark … steadily at first … and then with more vigour … with a run that carried him all the way into second place, going past the Matt Kropp trained Heroic Beach, who had been up with the pace throughout, to corner with the frontrunning Born To Be Alive well and truly in his sights.

Born To Be Alive was game, but he had very little left to offer when Trusty Bandit loomed alongside inside the final 100m and Trusty Bandit duly when on to win a little bit more comfortably than the official 0.65 length margin might suggest.

The Matt Kropp trained Heroic Beach finished third in this race and the stable had another third placing later in the day when Ceekay’s Choice filled that placing in a BM65 Handicap over 1200m.
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Last, but certainly not least, sometimes the best runs don’t end in victory … but are still highly creditable efforts which are well worth a mention.

That is true of the Matt Kropp trained Sun Worshipper, who contested two feature races in the second half of June and came away with a third place finish in the $250 000 Listed Ipswich Cup over 2150m … and a particularly eye-catching runner-up finish in the $200 000 Listed Tattersalls Gold Crown, in which she finished only 1.47 lengths behind the end-to-end winner Zuleika, after being the only runner to come out of the pack and chase the winner.

These results which helped lift her prize-money haul to $466 750.

The William Kropp trained Prince Levi also got in on the feature race act. While he failed to flatter in the Ipswich Cup, he did put in good effort when finishing fourth in the $200 000 Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup over 2400m in a race in which he cut the corner to get into the leading line in the first half of the home straight, only to be run out of it late, over the final 100m.

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