THE 'FOLLOW KROPP RACING' STABLE UPDATE

By Graham Potter | Friday, July 31, 2026

THE MATT KROPP STABLE:

The Matt Kropp trained Leg Drive ($2.45) made it back-to-back wins when he landed an Open Handicap 0ver 1800m at the Gold Coast on July 4.

It was a spirited effort by the son of Grunt as he made it two wins from two starts since joining the Kropp stable from the Matt Laurie yard … his previous win coming in a Class 3 Handicap over 1625m at Toowoomba under the steadying burden of 61kg two weeks earlier.

Down 6kg in weight here and with Fred Larson taking over from Harrison Shaw in the saddle, Leg Drive gained the perfect position early, after jumping from the number one barrier, with Larson placing the four-year-old in fourth place for the first half of the race.

When The Right Way, who had set the early target, gave way to the second favourite Galano as the field straightened for home, and Chase ‘N’ Artie quickly set out after the new leader, Larson wasted little time in setting Leg Drive on his way, asking the Kropp trained runner to accelerate into contention.

Chase ‘N’ Artie got to Galano just inside the 200m mark, but he had Leg Drive in tow, and closing, at that stage.

One hundred metres later, with momentum in Leg Drive’s favour, Leg Drive hit the front inside the final 100m and, although Chase ‘N’ Artie fought back gamely for a number of strides, Leg Drive ultimately was able to ease away and score by half-a-length.
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Three weeks later, Leg Drive came within a whisker of competing a hat trick of wins.

Racing over the same track and distance (at the Gold Coast over 1800m) as the $1.80 race favourite, Leg Drive, this time with Harrison Shaw in the saddle, raced in fifth place early this time, just worse than midfield.

Shaw moved Leg Drive up to fourth just three lengths adrift of the lead with 1000m left to run … swopping places with Moonshine Run ($3.60), but these two runners essentially continued to race together as they had done for much of the trip.

They both held their respective positions until the final approached to the home turn where both came under hard riding as they looked to close the gap on the leaders.

They succeeded in doing that together, gathering momentum from the 300m to surge into the lead inside the final 200m … still locked together … and that’s how they would stay in a punishing stride for stride battle all the way to the line where it was impossible to separate the runners with the naked eye.

The photo-finish went the way of Moonshine Run. Leg Drive’s winning run had been brought to an end … but only by the narrowest of margins with Leg Drive ticking off another very good run.

Two related points on the race from the official Stewards’ Report:

1) ‘LEG DRIVE – Near the 300m, contacted and carried out when MOONSHINE RUN (App B. Youngberry) shifted out to improve. App B. Youngberry was advised to exercise more care in similar situations.'

2) ’Correct weight was delayed allowing H. Shaw rider of second placegetter LEG DRIVE to view the Stewards footage of the home straight. After doing so, he elected not to pursue the matter further and correct weight was declared.’
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In-between this two runs of Leg Drive, the Matt Kropp stable also claimed another three runner-up finishes.

The horses who put that score on the board were: Rowdash (over 1400m at Goondiwindi in a BM 55 Handicap) … Deejaywip (over 1400m at Rockhampton in a Maiden Plate) … and Cardiologist over 1625m at Toowoomba in a Class 4 Handicap).
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THE WILLIAM KROPP STABLE:

The William Kropp stable sent out seven runners to contest twelve races in July.

Prince Levi, who had secured two wins and four second placings in the nine starts of his previous preparation, had upped the ante this time in and he continued to test his class in feature race company … and so it was that the route he had followed when tackling the Listed Bernborough, the Group 3 Lord Mayor’s Cup (both in May) … and the Listed Ipswich Cup and the Group 3 Tatts’ Cup, in which he finished fourth (both in June) … ultimately took him on to another two runs in July.

The first of those came in a BM80 Handicap over 2000m at Doomben in which he finished fifth, but only 1,75 lengths behind the winner, before he moved on to tackle the Listed Grafton Cup over 2350m in which he finished sixth, 2.63 lengths behind the winner King Pedro.

While his latest six race campaign brought no better than a fourth and two fifth place results, it did emphasise Prince Levi’s willingness to compete at whatever assignment was earmarked for him, always looking to perform to his best, an attribute which saw him more than pay his way, putting a further $27 525 into the prize-money kitty taking his career earnings to a healthy $343 875 from twenty-six career starts.

Of the other William Kropp stable runners in July:

Sweet Pretender finished second and third in her two races for the month … that gave the three-year-old chestnut three successive runner-up finishes and one third place finish in her last four starts, with all of those second place defeats coming by margins of less than a length.

Our Brave Lini finished third and fourth, continuing a run which has only seen her finish out of the first four twice in her last ten starts.

Scruffy finished fourth and finished second twice in succession ... at Rockhampton and Gatton, knocking hard on the door.

Yes I’m Ugly finished fifth and unplaced. Zousain’s Choice and Amenophis had one start each in July.

Zousain’s Choice finished unplaced after scoring back-to-back wins prior to that, while Amenophis also was unplaced in his run.