27 November 2017 | Ken Casellas
Champion New Zealand five-year-old Lazarus has never tasted defeat in two successive starts and he should keep that record intact by rebounding after Friday night’s second behind Soho Tribeca by winning the sixth heat of the TABtouch Inter Dominion championship over 2100m at Donaldson Park in Bunbury on Tuesday night.
Lazarus boasts a remarkable record of 37 starts for 31 wins, six placings and stakes of $2,663,139. He has never finished out of the top three placings.
However, he is not facing a walk in the park on Tuesday night when he will start out wide at barrier six on the front line, with his main danger, Tiger Tara, drawn perfectly at barrier No. 1.
Tiger Tara, trained by Kevin Pizzuto, possesses good gate speed, but is not a noted frontrunner. Many of his 24 victories have come after he has covered extra ground and has worked hard in the breeze. Whether reinsman Todd McCarthy can get Tiger Tara to an early lead is problematical, with the speedy beginner San Carlo favourably drawn at barrier three.
San Carlo has led all the way in seven of his 20 wins, the latest of those wins being two starts ago when Rebecca Bartley guided the lightly-raced seven-year-old to an all-the-way victory over My Field Marshal in the 2690m Maryborough Gold Cup.
San Carlo began from barrier six and settled down in eighth position before finishing solidly from seventh at the bell to be fifth behind Chicago Bull in a 2130m heat at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
Lazarus was not extended in finishing second to Soho Tribeca on the opening night of the series. An extremely slow lead time of 37.9sec. set by 7/4 on favourite Soho Tribeca left Lazarus (who had been restrained at the start from the outside barrier in the field of nine) with a virtually impossible task.
Mark Purdon sent Lazarus forward, with a three-wide move after 700m and the champion quickly moved to the breeze 200m later. Lazarus lost few admirers after he finished gamely into second place, almost four lengths behind Soho Tribeca, who sped over the final quarters in 27.3sec. and 27.2sec.
Tiger Tara’s 3m second to Lennytheshark on the opening night was full of merit. He started out wide from the No. 7 barrier and raced three wide before getting to the breeze after about 500m. He issued a strong, but unsuccessful challenge to the pacemaking Lennytheshark down the back straight in the final circuit before dropping back a little to finish an excellent second.
Tiger Tara has yet to beat Lazarus. He finished second and third behind Lazarus at Addington 12 months ago and renewed his rivalry with the superstar pacer at Addington two Tuesdays ago when he finished a wonderful third behind Lazarus in the 3200m New Zealand Cup in which he raced without cover before breaking into a gallop 800m from home. He lost four lengths and dropped back to eighth before finishing doggedly.
The WA-trained Motu Premier appeals as a sound place prospect against Lazarus and Tiger Tara. He will start from the No. 4 barrier and Chris Lewis should have the New Zealand-bred five-year-old in a prominent position throughout.
Motu Premier maintained his good form when he started from the outside barrier and ran home determinedly from eighth at the bell to finish fourth behind Lennytheshark in the second heat at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
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