Emerald Jewels 4yo winner Heaven Rocks showed he will be very hard to beat in this years Christchurch Casino Trotting Cup, with a dominant win today at the North Canterbury harness racing trials at Rangiora.
The powerful All Stars Stable had a strong presence in todays trial with last years New Zealand Cup winner Lazarus and New Brighton Cup winner Have Faith In Me also entered in the race. All three Purdon/Rasmussen runners started from a 40m handicap.
Lazarus and Heaven Rocks both made solid beginnings in the standing start trial and settled at the rear of the field, while Have Faith In Me made a mess of his start, breaking badly and adding 30m to his handicap.
Driver Natalie Rasmussen made a move with Heaven Rocks at the 500m mark to sit parked. He was simply too strong in the straight winning easily while Lazarus made up a lot of ground through the middle to run into third place.
This week the trial was run at a much faster clip, with Heaven Rocks pacing the 2600m stand in a quick 3-15.1 with a final 800m in 55.0 and 400m in 27.0 seconds
The TAB bookmakers have reacted to the trial win by caving Heaven Rocks in to $2.60 in the NZ Cup Futures market, from an earlier quote of $3.00 before the trial. The favourite Lazarus has now drifted out 10 cents to $2.30
Earlier in the day, smart trotter Great Things Happen showed he would be a force to be reckoned with in the major trotting races this season, with a nine length win in his trial.
Trainer Gavin Smith took the Love You six year old to the lead with a lap to go and he careered away in the straight to record an easy win by nine lengths.
Great Things Happen ran the 2600m in 3-22.4 for the 2600m stand with a quick last half in 57.2 seconds.
Heaven Rocks winning todays trial (Apologies for the poor picture quality)
Harnesslink Media