Lazarus 2YO climbs to the top ahead of Breeders Challenge Final

He is the fastest-winning harness racing two-year-old in Australia this season and Jack Trainor would not swap Nathan Street to drive any other horse in the Breeders Challenge Final at Menangle on October 29.

Nathan Street (Lazarus) won his semi-final at Menangle last Saturday night, stopping the clock in 1:52.

Equalling this mile rate was fellow semi-final winner Royal Cruiser, who had his time adjusted after winning the race on protest according to Harness Racing Australia’s National Top 20 List.

Nathan Street, a son of Lazarus that is trained by Freddy Taiba, has now won back-to-back races with Trainor in the sulky on both occasions.

“He’s a really nice horse,” said Trainor.

“The first time I jumped on him he made an error out of the gate.

“Freddy is staying here with me and Jason (Grimson) for the Carnival and he has put a lot of time into this fella and changed some gear over a couple of times.

“I’ve been able to drive him in track work and we’ve put our heads together and he seems to have hot his manners a lot better now and it’s like the penny has just dropped with him.

“He’s a really nice two-year-old and gives you the feel that he is a really nice three-year-old.

“I wouldn’t trade him for any of the others in the Final.”

Nathan Street led throughout from barrier eight to win his semi-final, with a closing quarter of 26.9 seconds.

NATHAN STREET REPLAY

Trainor also won a Breeders Challenge semi-final on the night with four-year-old mare Ideal In Dreams and he caught up with Greg Hayes on Sunday for The Sundhayes Session on The Sprint Lane Podcast to talk about his wins – click here to listen.

More Breeders Challenge semi-finals will take place at Menangle this Saturday night for the three-year-olds as well as the four-year-old entires and geldings

For complete race results, click here.

by Amanda Rando, for Harness Racing New South Wales