The Lazarus Effect books his Cup spot
It may have been the perfect start to The Lazarus Effect’s New Zealand Trotting Cup campaign but it can get even better.
Because trainer-driver Bob Butt has an ace up his sleeve, one he didn’t put on the table in Friday night’s Allied Security Maurice Holmes Vase at Addington.
Not that The Lazarus Effect needed any help as his brilliant standing start manners early and then natural ability after saw him never really looking in danger of defeat as he led mid stages and scooted home too quickly for Mo’unga and a brave Renegade.
The win guarantees him a place in the New Zealand Trotting Cup on Tuesday, November 10. He is a $10 favourite and could lay claim to being the best local hope depending on what Marketplace and Republican Party do in the next 10 weeks.
Butt knows though as good as The Lazarus Effect was on Friday there is improved fitness and perhaps more importantly better concentration to come.
“I left the blinds off tonight with him being fresh up and because of that he was terrible in front,” admitted Butt.
“So they will be going back on him next start.”
That would explain why The Lazarus Effect never really seemed to be travelling the last 600m, with Butt having to coax him as he waited for those behind to close, which they never really did.
The thought of him being more dialed in next start and fitter is a daunting one for his local spring rivals.
That start is likely to be back at Addington in two weeks, although Butt suggests as always that will depend on how The Lazarus Effect comes through Friday night’s race.
The majority of connections were positive about their pacer’s performances post-race but the open class racing is only going to get tougher as some of the other big names return and that is without thinking ahead to the likely return of Larry, aka Leap To Fame, for the Cup itself.