After a speedy opening quarter mile, New Zealand-bred Lazarus was able to take control of the race and lead the rest of the way to capture the harness racing $325,000 Dan Patch Stakes at Hoosier Park Friday night.
It was the North American debut for down under champion Lazarus, who started from the far outside in post nine for driver Yannick Gingras.
The 11th race Dan Patch Stakes started off with Bit Of A Legend (Jordan Stratton) leaving from post five along with Rockin Ron (Trace Tetrick). Lazarus and Gingras left from post nine and were floating on the outside in fourth place, moving up as Bit Of A Legend cut the mile to the opening quarter in :26.1.
Gingras continued to advance on the outside with Lazarus, taking control after the quarter mile. Lazarus cut the mile to the half in :54.2 and the three-quarters in 1:22.4 as Split The House and driver Brett Miller came first-over and continued to gain ground with Beckhams Z Tam (Ricky Macomber) second-over.
As they came down the stretch, Gingras asked Lazarus and they kept Split The House a length off of them all the way to the wire. The mile went in 1:48.4 with McWicked (Brian Sears) closing well to be third. Last quarter mile for Lazarus was :26 second and McWicked's last quarter was :25.2.
Trained by Hall of Famer Jimmy Takter, Lazarus is owned by Taylor Made Stallions of Nicholasville, Kentucky. He paid $3.00 to win.
It was the third win in six starts (first five were in New Zealand) for Lazarus. The six-year-old stallion by Bettor’s Delight now has won 36 of his 46 career starts with lifetime earnings of more than $2,788,050. This year his earnings are now $452,113.
Lazarus will now be pointed towards the Canadian Pacing Derby in Toronto.
Lazarus
Interview after the race
By Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink