Lazarus’s ascension to the top of the pacing world has had its first major casualty — his stablemate Have Faith In Me.
The Miracle Mile and Auckland Cup winner has undoubtedly lost his crown as the king of pacing to Lazarus this spring, the handover completed in under four minutes at Addington on Tuesday.
But now he has also been robbed of the chance to compete for harness racing’s richest prize in Australasia and one of the few major races he could target knowing he wouldn’t have to run into Lazarus.
Have Faith In Me has been pulled out of the Inter Dominions, which start in Perth in 15 days, with trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen suggesting they simply couldn’t take him after he galloped for apparently no reason at the 600m mark on Tuesday.
“We don’t know what is bugging him but something isn’t quite right,” said Rasmussen. “If he is not pacing cleanly enough here and that isn’t going to get any better around Gloucester Park. So we have pulled him off the plane to Perth on Friday.”
Stablemates Smolda, who was fourth in the Cup, Harness Jewels winner Piccadilly Princess and Tuesday’s national 2600m record setter Mr Mojito will still be heading to Perth.
Have Faith In Me will also miss Friday’s $260,000 New Zealand Free-For-All, but if vets clear him of any serious issues he could be back to defend his Auckland Cup title at Alexandra Park on December 31.
That would set up a chance for some much-needed revenge on Lazarus, who has totally usurped him, winning all four of their personal clashes this season.
Lazarus has now not been beaten in a Group 1 race for almost 18 months and will be red hot to add another in the Free-For-All on Friday, which is the day before he actually turns four in real terms.
He has drawn barrier five in the mobile 1950m event and, although he has plenty of gate speed inside him, after his demolition job on Tuesday it is hard to imagine rival drivers getting into a war with him.
The race will bring together Lazarus and his female equivalent Dream About Me for the first time in an actual race and while the All Stars have often indicated in the past there may not be too much between them, it hardly looks a fair fight on Friday with Dream About Me drawn barrier eight.
So, even though Rasmussen suggested she will start, it still wouldn’t surprise to see her pulled out and saved for Auckland next month.
While Dream About Me copped a terrible draw, champion trotter Monbet looks ideally placed to add the Dominion to his bulging trophy cabinet after drawing wide on the front line on Friday.
He set another NZ record, for 1950m mobile, beating Marcoola on Tuesday and that rival won’t be in the Dominion.
That will see Monbet start around $1.30 for the biggest race he has yet to win in New Zealand because, while he has actually drawn the second line, emergencies will see him start wide on the front line and that is ideal for a horse who has had little experience of starting among other horses in standing start races.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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