Monbet reigns supreme for the Hopes
‘‘The day belonged to training partners Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen’’
A relieved Ricky May knew just how close he came to blowing a Group One victory with Monbet at Addington on Tuesday.
May moved trotter up to sit parked with a lap to run and Monbet took until the last 100m to get past Marcoola and win by half a head for the win.
The Woodend Beach based Greg and Nina Hope trained 5-year-old not only got the measure of second favourite Marcoola by half a head, but he also smashed Stig’s 2009 New Zealand record by exactly one second.
It also made it 22 wins in 33 starts.
‘‘He could have won easier than that. I almost cost him,’’ May said.
Greg Hope said Monbet had definitely improved on the first start of his campaign in the Ashburton Trotters Flying Mile on October 24 and Tuesday’s run was the perfect dress rehearsal for the $260,000 Dominion Handicap on Friday.
After the success with Monbet on Tuesday, May combined with the Hope’s again later in the day for a Cup Day double when Everybody Knows produced a stunning performance after an early gallop.
Then in the lane he simply left his opposition to it winning the $20,000 Recruitment Network C1 Trot.
It was the five-year-old Quite Easy gelding’s fifth win in 33 starts, and third at Addington Raceway.
While the Hopes celebrated a double victory, the day belonged to training partners Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen.
What the four-year-old Lazarus did to win the New Zealand Trotting Cup was quite simply stunning, kicking away on the home straight to win by a 10 length winning margin in a record time.
Lazarus’ outstanding success capped a six-win haul from 12 races for Purdon and Rasmussen on harness racing’s biggest day of the year.
There was also a win for the Dunn stable with America Tart in the Colgate Optic White Mobile Pace.
Off the back of some strong trial form the dour mare made a massive mid-race move to find the lead at the winning post with a lap left to run and never looked back - grinding her rivals into submission to win by one-and-a-hal lengths.
A winner now of four of his six career starts, American Tart is a horse going places.