Miracle needed

Superstar pacer Lazarus might not even start favourite in Saturday’s Miracle Mile at Menangle following a shock defeat and drawing the outside gate of 10 for the blueribbon sprint.

Lazarus is looking to become the first horse to win harness racing’s grand slam of the New Zealand Cup, Victoria Cup, Inter Dominion, Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile in the one season. In fact, he will have to create history on two fronts, with no horse having won a Miracle Mile from the outside draw since it moved to Menangle in 2009.

Ladbrokes has Lazarus as a $2.30 favourite at Ladbrokes in front of Soho Tribeca, whom he beat in the Hunter Cup, at $3.30 with Tiger Tara, which drew the pole, at $5. Lazarus is a $2.25 favourite on the New Zealand TAB.

Lazarus wasn’t the horse that has delivered performances which have had him compared to the greats of the sport on Saturday night as he struggled into third behind Tiger Tara in the Canadian Club Sprint in a relative slow time of 1.51.5.

The five-year-old had to depend on an invitation into the Miracle Mile but questions remain over his

fitness after trainer-driver Mark Purdon admitted he had a blood complaint last week.

"I thought he was over it but the way the race panned out and him having to race parked, after being crossed, it affected him," Purdon said. "So we have a week to get him right and I am just glad he gets into the Mile."

Lazarus will probably have to go back from his draw with Anything For Love, the all-the-way winner of Saturday’s Allied Express Transport Sprint in 1.48.7, the likely leader from gate two.

WA Pacing Cup winner Soho Tribeca is likely again to sit outside Anything For Love from gate six as he did on Saturday when beaten a nose, and his trainer Michael Stanley said he "won’t be giving up" his spot when Lazarus comes mid-race.