Tribeca on top as Inter Dominion heats up
29 November, 2017
Harness
The invincibility surrounding New Zealand champion Lazarus coming into the Perth Inter Dominion series has waned after the second round of heats were held at Bunbury on Tuesday night.
Lazarus, the dual New Zealand Cup champ and the winner of 31 of his 38 starts with more than $2,647,000 in prize money, arrived in WA with the tag of the best horse in the Southern Hemisphere.
But his two defeats – on the first night of the Inters heats at Gloucester Park he finished a well-beaten second behind the flying Soho Tribeca and on Tuesday night he lowered his colours to the tough, no-nonsense Tiger Tara who set a new track record of 1:52.3 for the 2100m trip – have given many trainers, owners and drivers hope that the superstar Kiwi is not the pacing machine we all thought he was.
Don’t get me wrong.
Lazarus has copped some wide draws in the first two heats and his runs to finish second have been great efforts.
But that aura of invincibility has fallen from him.
And you can bet Lazarus’ trainer-reinsman Mark Purdon is happy to have that burden removed from his shoulders.
Purdon is a master at getting his horses to peak at the right time and you can bet he’ll have Lazarus cherry ripe come the night of the grand final on December 8.
Remember Lazarus has never been beaten when he’s managed to find the front in his races and Purdon will be keen to “light the fuse” at the start if his charge happens to draw a good gate in the final.
Good draws in this series are like gold.
We’ve seen it in the first two nights at headquarters and at Bunbury.
The only unbeaten horse in the series after the first two nights has been the Kim Prentice-trained and reined Soho Tribeca.
He was awesome on the first night when he was sent straight to the front from his inside draw and made Lazarus chase all the way.
It was a similar scenario at Bunbury when Prentice sent Soho Tribeca to the top early doors and only really asked him for an effort over the last 400m when he sprinted home in a slick 26.2 to defeat Devendra and Chicago Bull.
Soho Tribeca is now the clear second favourite behind Lazarus to win the grand final.
Chicago Bull, with an “easy kill” on the first night and a brilliant third behind Soho Tribeca at Bunbury after only getting out when the race was as good as over, is the third elect in early markets for the final.
Lennytheshark, an easy all-the-way winner at GP on opening night, was defeated as a long odds-on favourite at Bunbury and has consequently eased to equal fourth favourite for the final.
Tiger Tara joins Lennytheshark on the fourth line of betting.
The Skye Bond-trained Galactic Star caused the boilover of the night at Bunbury when driver Ryan Warwick managed to get him off the fence turning for home and the horse flew down the outside to nab Yayas Hot Spot and Lennytheshark in the shadows of the post.
Galactic Star, who did his early racing in WA before heading to Sydney, has matured as a racehorse and looks to be a genuine threat to the more fancied runners in the final.
He seems to race best off a hot speed and can surprise at odds.
The points tally going into Friday night’s last round of heats for the leading contenders is as follows; Soho Tribeca (WA) 28 Tiger Tara (NSW) 25 Chicago Bull (WA) 23 Galactic Star (NSW) 23 Lennytheshark (VIC) 23 Lazarus (NZ) 22 Devendra (TAS) 17 Shandale (WA) 16 Vultan Tin (WA) 16 San Carlo (VIC) 15 Egodan (NSW) 14 Major Crocker (VIC) 14 Yayas Hot Spot (NSW) 14
I think the $1.1M grand final field will look something like this.
Soho Tribeca, Tiger Tara, Chicago Bull, Galactic Star, Lennytheshark, Lazarus, Shandale, San Carlo, Egodan and Vultan Tin.
Only the top point scorers will make the 10-horse field for the grand final.
Wayne Currall
Photo Credit: Gloucester Park / Scott Hamilton Media