Oscar’s back tonight – on big night at Addington

On a night when the two and three-year-old worlds collide at Addington it almost feels like the reigning Trotter of the Year is sneaking back to the races.

But harness racing co-trainer Nathan Purdon says that doesn’t mean Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) can’t win even off a 35m handicap.

All the talk as we count down to the massive trots over Cup week has been about Just Believe, Callmethebreeze and now three-year-old Keayang Zahara, and rightly so as they will dominate betting on the richest trotting races.

But Oscar is still the Trotter of the Year, albeit one undergoing the most unusual preparation: being trained on the inside of the Matamata galloping track and then flying south to join Nathan on Tuesday.

“He arrived looking great,” says Purdon.

“Dad has obviously done a great job and he looks well and really healthy. By the end of his last campaign he was ready for a break and had got quite light but he looks really good now.”

Oscar Bonavena doesn’t meet anything in his class tonight in the Breckon Farms Handicap Trot but that is why he has to cop a 35m handicap against some race hardened, serious emerging horses.

“It won’t be easy but if there are a few gallopers and Dad can settle him three or four back on the outer he can still win.

“But yes, like most good horses returning he will improve.”

Tonight’s meeting hosts a series of good two and three-year-olds races, trotters and pacers, boys and girls clashing with some North Island and Southland injection and it will make for a really interesting challenge for punters trying to line all that form up.

One three-year-old who meets older horses is Vessem (R10, No.8) who missed his race last Friday with a high temperature and Purdon warns he could be vulnerable from a wide draw even though he is clearly the best horse in his race, the Peninsula Beachfront Resort Mooloolaba Mobile Pace.

“There is a hard running horse like Helium in there and I think Blair will drive Vessem for one run as he has a $100,000 race next week and we don’t want him having a hard run sitting parked.”

There are the same concerns for Rubira (R7, No.13) who has a second line draw in a red hot Woodlands Sires’ Stakes 2YO Colts and Geldings heat, albeit most of the other favourites are drawn poorly too.

“He is a good horse but we don’t know how good so this race might tell a lot of us where we stand.”

With stunning last start winner Marketplace, Got The Chocolates, northerner Bar Louie in the same race it should be a great form guide to what lies ahead.

The age group action starts with the three-year-old trot, the Dancinginthedark M (USA) 3YO Mobile Trot, which is so even manners and luck will play a huge role.

The 2YO fillies meet in the next race in the Dunstan Sires’ Stakes Series and the northerners hold the balance of power, with perhaps Always B Misty, who was luckless last start, the one to beat.

The Nevele R Fillies heat (Race 9) is a beauty and Purdon says Treacherous Baby has the manners and fitness to use barrier 1 in a full field, with early equal favourite All You Need Is Me drawn the second line.

It has the feeling of one of those races you want to bet in after 800m because if a few of the talented fillies on the front line all get involved in the early burn then the swoopers might get them but if Treacherous Baby leads or gets an easy trail she becomes the clear one to beat.

For complete race entries, click here

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand