MATT AND WILLIAM KROPP RACING STABLE'S UPDATE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 16, 2026

Kropp Racing was in action on a big day of Winter Carnival racing on Doomben 10 000 day.

The Matt Kropp trained Sun Worshipper put in a solid enough performance when filling fifth spot behind the Ciaron Maher trained Middle Earth, in the Group 3 JRA Chairman’s over 2000m at Doomben on May 16.

While the son of Sun City, who had won the Magic Millions Shoot Out over 2100m back in January, was never in the hunt for the win in the Chairman’s, the mare’s concentrated effort in the home straight, in which she passed a number of runners after coming from near the tail of the field, translated to more than a satisfactory result.

Mark Du Plessis allowed Sun Worshiper to drift back towards the rear of the field in the early part, where the chestnut raced some eight to nine lengths off the lead as the field went down the back stretch.

Du Plessis then started pushing Sun Worshipper closer in the sweep to the home turn, but heavy traffic in front of him meant he had to track a path out wider, ending up all of six wide on straightening, now with six lengths to make up.

Sun Worshipper then produced that concentrated effort in the home run, powering on in a steady fashion which saw her race past six of the ten horses who were in front of his early in the straight, to earn a highly creditable fifth placing having cut the deficit to just 2.48 lengths at the line.

Interestingly enough, the winner Middle Earth had been racing alongside Sun Worshipper in the final approach to the home turn with part of the difference between them in the finish coming down to the respective runs each horse took in the straight … Middle Earth being able to cut the corner and secure a rails runs all the way to the line while Sun Worshipper had to slug it out wider on the track.

Sun Worshipper started at odds of $33.

The Matt Kropp stable also earned a second place result on the day when Propose finished as the runner-up in a BM60 Handicap over 1890m at Toowoomba.
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Earlier in the day the William Kropp trained Prince Levi matched Sun Worshipper’s fifth place finish, gaining that result in the Listed Bernborough Handicap over 1600m, finishing 2.50 lengths behind the Bjorn Baker trained War Eternal.

This was a step back in distance for Prince Levi with the son of Casino Prince having raced over distances ranging from 2000m to 2200m in all of his last six starts prior to this assignment.

He did come into the race with two wins and three runner-up finishes to his credit from his last five starts though, so he was worthy of a second glance, even if the betting boards put him all the way out at $20.

Mark Du Plessis took Prive Levi back from his wide draw (twelve out of thirteen) at the break and, like Sun Worshipper who would race two races later, Prince Levi raced eight lengths off the lead down the back straight.

Back to last place and racing on heels in the start of the approach to the home turn, Prince Levi was still at the very rear of the field on straightening … now faced with a wall of horses with seemingly nowhere to go.

Because of that, Prince Levi was unable to make up ground in the first half of the straight, and the race was already done and dusted when Du Plessis angled the four-year-old into a small gap which had appeared late, approaching the 100m mark.

Prince Levi accepted the run and finished off strongly, hitting the line hard … he would have had fourth place in another couple of strides.

It was arguably the best result he could have achieved in the circumstances.
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It is these type of honest performances that have helped Sun Worshipper and Prince Levi amass an impressive amount of prize-money between them … $727 850 to be exact for their respective Kropp stables.

Sun Worshipper has brought in $405 500 courtesy of five wins and six minor places from twenty-eight starts. Prince Levi prize-money haul comes in at $321 850 from twenty-one starts, via four wins and eight placings … seven of which were second places.

And that … with Sun Worshipper and Prince Levi both still only being four-year-olds.

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