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Live sport on SN this weekend“Engulfed in flames”: How Kingman was nearly scratched from Gold Cup
Connor Scanlon • February 2nd, 2026 1:31 pm
Superstar trotter Kingman narrowly lost the Group 1 Cranbourne Gold Cup on Saturday by 0.9m after a late surge from the legendary Leap To Fame denied the Luke McCarthy-trained and driven five-year-old his 17th victory.
However, that epic Gold Cup finale nearly never happened.
While Kingman was travelling to Cranbourne on a truck, the vehicle broke down and was completely engulfed in flames within five minutes.
Nathan Jack, who was driving Kingman to the races alongside McCarthy, joined SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up to explain the near-catastrophic incident.
“We were just poking along, we just got past Seymour and it was a bit hot,” Jack stated.
“We were going to stop actually, and I said, ‘Oh, we'll go to the next (service station) because it'll be a bit cooler for the horses’.
“But we didn't make it that far.
“We just heard a bang, and it was just a blowout. So, we just pulled up straight away, thinking, ‘Oh, we've just got to get out and change the tyres, no big deal’.
“We get out, walk around, and the next minute the tyre was on fire… things just escalated extremely quick from there.
“We had to immediately start getting the horses out and trying to get as much stuff out as we could before it (the fire) got out of control.
“I reckon within five minutes of getting them off, it was just engulfed in flames. It was a horrible feeling.”
Regarding how they managed to get Kingman and the other horses out of the truck, Jack revealed that many bystanders pulled over to help assist them out of the flaming vehicle.
“We had bystanders pull up pretty much straight away and there was a couple of fellas that we didn't even know - I don't even think they'd ever touched a horse - and they were just leading them (the horses) away,” Jack continued.
“They just jumped in and helped, they didn't hesitate, so they were great.
“Luke and everyone took them up out of harm's way. They (the horses) were quite chilled actually, which was a surprise.
“There was a few of us that just stayed (at the truck) to try and get as many things out as possible before they were burning.
“Like we were trying to open one of the dog boxes underneath to get things out, and a tyre exploded.
“You just didn't know what was going to explode. It was a pretty scary thing.”
However, with no mode of transportation to get Kingman to the Cranbourne Racecourse, Jack and McCarthy were momentarily stuck on the side of the road.
That was until someone who they didn’t know organised a truck for the pair to borrow, so they could make it to the races on time.
“There was a bloke there, I'm not too sure who he was. He said, ‘There's a truck coming, I've organised a truck,’” revealed Jack.
“The truck got there, so Luke chucked him (Kingman) on the truck, and off he went.
“We’re forever grateful for him and the bloke that also organised it.”
Every person and horse involved in the fire came out of the incident completely safe and healthy.
