Tiger Tara primed to pounce
The draw may be against him, but visiting Sydney reinsman Todd McCarthy is full of confidence heading into today’s $800,000 Group I New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington.
He’ll pilot the expat Kiwi Tiger Tara, who will contest his fifth Cup and look to better his minor placings behind Lazarus in the two previous runnings of the race.
Tiger Tara was a brilliant winner of the Victoria Cup last month and headed to Christchurch last week with trainer Kevin Pizzuto as the clear predraw favourite with bookies.
But that soon changed when he drew the second line from the two-mile standing start, while the four runners from the stable of local powerhouses Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen drew one, two, three and five.
Australian bookies reacted sharply and shifted Tiger Tara out to a clear third favourite at $7, while New Zealand’s TAB drifted him to $3.80, a price that has subsequently eased out to $4.20.
McCarthy drove the horse to a brilliant third last year, staging an excellent recovery after jumping a shadow and galloping when outside the leader at the 1000-metre mark. He thinks the horse, now eight, is in a better space 12 months on.
‘‘We’re wiser compared to last year with this trip and we know what to expect with him and how to handle the situation a whole lot better. We’re excited by this challenge and confident we can win it.
‘‘He did so much travelling last year and while he handled it well, he feels different right now and that’s in a good way so it augurs well for the Cup.
‘‘It’s like he’s fully matured and understands the whole concept of Grand Circuit racing and the travel involved.
‘‘I’m certain he has never felt better than when he won the Victoria Cup three starts ago; he was absolutely awesome that night and dealt to that field very easily.
‘‘His two starts since have been very meritorious so he couldn’t be better heading into the Cup.
‘‘If you look back at the Inter Dominion in Perth and see how fierce he became, he’s the opposite of that now and he’s so much better for it.
‘‘It’s all part of his maturity and he’s primed for this race.’’
Tiger Tara did his early racing in New Zealand where he was trained by Geoff Dunn and driven by Gerard O’Reilly before being sold to Australia.
As for dangers, McCarthy is squarely focused on the All Stars barn.
‘‘Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen speak for themselves as far as threats and dangers go – their domination in feature events is second to none and they’re represented strongly again so I’m respecting everything from that stable.’’
The Purdon-Rasmussen runners that have drawn so prominently and are heavily favoured to feature are Thefixer 1, Cruz Bromac 2, Eamon Maguire 3, Dream About Me 5. The Informant