Thefixer in thrilling victory
Thefixer and Tiger Tara won’t receive the same prize money for their bravery in the New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington last night.
But while only the former will have his name etched on the famous trophy, the latter shared the glory in an $800,000 thriller.
Thefixer at just his 16th start held off the Australian iron horse in a pulsating finish. This fairytale has two heroes.
Thefixer overcame soreness just six weeks ago which threatened to derail his Cup campaign and then recorded the second fastest time in the history of the great race, only his former stablemate Lazarus having gone faster two years ago.
Lazarus was all muscle and flash, the bully who taunted his Cup rivals with an arrogant 10-length win.
But this time trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen had to earn their Cup, cajoling Thefixer back to his best because only his best would do.
After a dreaded false start he got the second attempt right then led and trailed Dream About Me. From there it was his race to lose but lose it he almost did. Because while Thefixer was enjoying the perfect run for driver Rasmussen, Tiger Tara came three wide to sit parked and break the seemingly unbreakable Dream About Me in front.
At the 200m mark he looked set to produce one of the gutsiest Cup wins in history only for Thefixer to rally, an equine Rocky Balboa defying the bigger, stronger Apollo Creed.
Every centimetre Rasmussen saved on the marker pegs made the difference but the runner up was so magnificent it almost felt like there were two Cup winners.
The magnificence of Tiger Tara in defeat doesn’t detract from what the winner achieved though.
This was, after all, just his 16th start and Thefixer hadn’t come through the glamour of age group races and has earned his stripes in the big time the old fashioned way.
Being so untapped and new his options are numerous, with Purdon and Rasmussen to sit down today and decide whether he heads to the Inter Dominion in Victoria starting December 1, a decision which will impact on whether he starts in the NZ Free-For-All this Friday.