22 November 2017
First round heats: Friday Nov 24, three A$75,000 heats over 2130m at Gloucester Park, Perth
Second round: Tuesday Nov 28, three A$75,000 heats over 2100m at Donaldson Park, Bunbury
Third round: Friday December 1, three A$75,000 heats over 2536m at Gloucester Park, Perth.
Grand Final: Friday December 8, A$1.1million over 2936m mobile at Gloucester Park, Perth.
Other Grand Final night highlights: A$200,000 Retravision Golden Nugget (Ultimate Machete); A$125,000 Westral Mares Classic (Piccadilly Princess).
By Michael Guerin
The early bird may catch the worm but more importantly he avoids he flies.
Which is why Kiwi pacing hero Lazarus has been working in the dark this week.
The two-time New Zealand Cup champ kicks off his Inter Dominion campaign in a very tricky opening heat at Gloucester Park in Perth around midnight on Friday, drawing the worst possible barrier with hard-running local Soho Tribeca drawn to lead and burn over the 2100m mobile.
Trainer Mark Purdon knows the public expectation on the series favourite and realises there can be no easy introduction to the series, Lazarus is probably going to have to work to sit parked and outmuscle Soho Tribeca, who has even opened favourite with Tabcorp.
“He is a good horse Soho Tribeca, I saw him winning here last year and he will be hard to catch,” said Purdon.
“But we are there to win, we have with be with Laz’s following.
“So I guess we will probably circle them at some stage but it won’t be easy, I can tell you that.”
While Purdon doesn’t know what result to expect from Friday night’s opening heat he is at least happy Lazarus and his three stablemates Have Faith In Me (Inter), Ultimate Machete (four-year-old races) and Piccadilly Princess (mares) handled the long haul to Perth well.
“Ultimate Machete was the one who was tiredest but that is understandable considering he raced older horses and beat them in a fast time on Friday.
“But seeing Laz arrive in such great shape makes me happy we missed the free-for-all with him.”
The All Stars quartet at staying at the same Gary Elson stables from where Smolda won the Interdom last season and Purdon says lessons learned from that campaign have already been incredibly valuable.
“Last season I was learning as I went along but I know the environment and a few more tricks now.”
Two of those tricks are avoiding flies and the heat, which means the alarm clock goes off a bit earlier.
“Back home we would work Laz anywhere between 7 and 9.30am but here he is usually done by 5.30am.
“Once the sun comes up it not only gets hot very quickly but the flies comes out and they can be a real pain, even for the local horses but especially ours because they are not used to them.
“If you work them when the flies start buzzing around the horses can kick out at them and potentially kick you out of the cart or get their legs over the hopples.
“So we get their work over and done with before 6am and then they can go out in the paddock where the wear mesh rugs and covers for their necks and faces.
“These are all things I learned last year and although the training track here is a little different from home it is not going to make a huge difference to how we work.”
If Lazarus can sit parked outside Soho Tribeca and beat him it will send shivers down the spines of rival connections but defeat would not be a disaster for Purdon.
The brutal nature of the series and lack of depth in the heats means energy and legs conserved with a placing can pay dividends without jeopardising Grand Final hopes. Cases in point: both Lennytheshark and Smolda (twice) were beaten during the series before winning the last two Perth finals.
Have Faith In Me meets local star Chicargo Bull in the third heat on Friday in which a placing would be a good result while Lennytheshark will be unbackable in the second heat.
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