No chinks in champ’s armour
He won’t make you rich but backing Lazarus seems much more sensible than betting against him.
A runaway favourite for Tuesday’s $800,000 New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington, Lazarus is the most dominant favourite for the race in recent memory.
Last year’s 10-length winner is paying a minuscule $1.25 to $1 to make it back-to-back victories in the race.
Even the usually reserved Mark Purdon, who will drive Lazarus and trains him in partnership with Natalie Rasmussen, is not shocked by the minuscule odds of his superstar pacer.
‘‘It doesn’t surprise me because he doesn’t appear to have a chink in his armour,’’ Purdon said.
New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club racing secretary Brian Rabbitt, who began his role in 1983, said going on the soon to be 34 Cups he has been part of, Lazarus is in uncharted territory.
‘‘Christian Cullen would probably have been the most red-hot favourite in that time,’’ Rabbitt said. Christian Cullen returned $1.90 for his one and a quarter length victory in the 1998 New Zealand Trotting Cup.
‘‘There wouldn’t have been one shorter than him that I’ve seen in my time.’’
In 2016, Lazarus returned $2 for his 10-length win that came in race record time. At Lazarus’ current 2017 price of $1.25, a $10 win bet will return just $12.50. A bet of $50 on the nose will return $62.50 and $100 will return $125.
For the brave, a $1000 bet will only return a profit of $250 ($1250) and a $10,000 bet will pay $12,500 for a profit of just $2,500.
Purdon, who has driven four Cup winners (Il Vicolo 1995 and 1996, Adore Me 2014 and Lazarus 2016), remains as humble as ever and respectful of his opposition, but he also knows his equine equivalent of Usain Bolt, is the complete package.
To the point where he seems to have thrown his usually conservative manner to one side.
Purdon, an astute horseman who is used to dealing with pressure and expectation, knows bold statements put pressure on a horse, its owners, trainers and driver. But when the horse is a once-in-a-generation star like Lazarus, that pressure and the ability to be conservative seem to disappear as quickly as each other.
So will the champion retain his crown?
Ricky May, whose seven wins in the Cup make him the most successful driver in its 113-year history, recently quipped that his drive, Seel The Deal, was one of many horses in the race who ‘‘will probably need a tow rope in behind Lazarus’’.
Besides trifecta, quinella and first four bets, maybe the best way to make money off Lazarus on Tuesday is to organise the office sweepstake and draw yourself Lazarus as a perk of the job.