Son of Lazarus clears maidens for Phelan/Purdon in style

The Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan trained three-year-old gelding Jeremiah (Lazarus) was an impressive winner at last night’s (Jan. 11) harness racing meeting at Cambridge Raceway.

Jeremiah was having his second race day start and first for six months after lining up just the once as a juvenile last season.

He was a luckless fourth on that occasion at the ‘ribbon of light’ where after launching his assault from the rear of the field and working three and four wide, lost crucial momentum when locking wheels before finishing off strongly to be less than three lengths from the first three home.

Jeremiah trialled nicely in preparation for last nights resumption with a tidy win at the Pukekohe Raceway, rattling off a 26.9 last quarter after looping the five horse field to get outside and stave off another of last nights maiden victors, Iron Brigade.

When the Telfer trained son of Art Major romped home in Race Two on the card, it looked pretty good form for a six horse maiden and despite having to sit outside the leader for the last lap of the 2200m journey, Jeremiah was too strong in the run hime.

Scott Phelan who drove Jeremiah to clear maidens last night has done most of the work with the promising sophomore pacer and is excited about what may be in store this season for his charge.

“He had three months out between preparations and he has strengthened up a whole lot, we thought a bit of him last time, but he has definitely improved, thats for sure,” said Phelan.

“To be honest I thought it was going to take a pretty smart maiden wherever we lined up to beat him, and even with Iron Brigade in the other maiden, I was happy enough to line up against him too because they are both smart and would have been a great test.

“He is quite a nice horse and if he keeps on improving and stepping up as we hope he will, he will probably make those nice races later in the year. There is a long way to go but he is a nice enough horse,” he said.

While they didn’t smash the clock in the fifth on the card posting a time of 2:44.4 for the 2200m mobile affair, the final quarter of 26.9 and the manner in which he did it suggests the son of Jeremiah is a horse to keep an eye on as he progresses throughout the 2024 racing season.

JEREMIAH REPLAY

Jeremiah was an $80,000 yearling sales purchase out of the Gael Murray draft in Christchurch back in 2022, and after a rough start to his early education, has figured out the fact he is bred to be a better-than-average pacer.

“He had a lovely head on him, and he looked a little bit classy, so we thought we would have a go at him,” said Purdon in June last year prior to the debut of his Lazarus charge.

Jeremiah’s dam is the ten-win Live Or Die mare, Flyover. She was Group One placed in the NZ Standardbred Breeders Stakes behind Adore Me and had 31 placings to her name in a tidy career on the track. The win of Jeremiah last night means she has produced four winners from her first five foals of racing age, including the talented Better Fly (5 wins) and Jordy (5 wins).

“He wasn’t the easiest horse to get going and took a couple of preparations to pace. Logan Hollis and Shane Robertson did a prep with him and they got him sorted,” said Phelan.

“Once he started figuring it out, he had a great attitude and was a nice enough pacer and from there it’s been no looking back

“He’s still pretty green and pretty raw and has a bit to learn but when I asked him to go up and sit outside the leader he relaxed for me straight away and when you ask him to go, he goes which is all you can ask for at this stage of his career,” he said.

The win was the second New Zealand siring success for dual hemisphere sire, Lazarus who picked up his maiden success late last year with the Michael House trained, Ask Me Lazarus.

In North America he is the sire of 84 individual winners from his first two crops of racing age with $4,470,748 in total progeny earnings.

In Australia last season, Lazarus was the leading first season sire and finished seventh on the juvenile money list with $468,764 in porgeny earnings with 14 individual winners from 20 starters, including the impressive Group One winner, Nathan Street.

For complete Cambridge race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink