Another Lazarus youngster impresses Morris

Champion Sydney harness racing driver Rob Morris was a relieved man yesterday morning when he went to the stables and checked on three-year-old bay colt Power To Impress (Lazarus), an eye-catching winner on debut at Menangle on Tuesday (Jan 9).

“He’s certainly a very nice horse, but he’s had a lengthy rehabilitation program after serious injury and that’s sort of always in the back of your mind,” Morris said.

“We’re so happy that he’s got through that first race start and has pulled up well. He had a swim, and all seems okay. But as anyone in this game would agree, every day is a new day.”

Power To Impress, now trained by Morris’ wife KerryAnn, suffered a hairline fracture in a front pastern.

Morris said the pacer was confined to his box for an extended period during his recovery.

“When we got him, we built him up slowly with months of swimming and exercise on a treadmill – he certainly knows what that’s about!”

Power To Impress showed good gate speed from his barrier two draw, but Morris elected to take a sit and got slotted three back on the fence in the middle stages.  Morris found room on the corner to make a wide run and when he asked the impressive looking colt for an effort he slipped into another gear, posting a runaway 11-metre victory in 1.52-4 (56.9 last half).

“He felt really good during the race and the way he finished off was pretty special,” Morris said.

“We’ve had him scanned a lot, particularly when he was jogging and before hoppling, but there haven’t been any issues. We’ll most likely race him at Menangle in a fortnight and then next month there’s some really nice three-year-old events,” Morris said.

“I’d love to think that with race experience and a little improvement, he might be up to running in the Simpson Sprint later on this year.”

The Morris stable currently has about 50 horses in work at Menangle, and Power To Impress continues a good association Morris has had with breeder-owner Reg Walsh.

“Reg always breeds four or five horses a year and he’s poured a lot of money into the industry over many years,” Morris said.

“We’ve had a few of his, and Reg asked me if we’d like to have a go with Power To Impress.  We’ve got another of his in Sir Knight (winner of last season’s Cobbitty Equine 2yo C & G NSW Breeders Challenge Blue), and he’s also a Lazarus-bred horse. We really like them, so much so that we’d gladly take some more!”

Power To Impress is out of the Modern Art mare Denises Legacy, who was lightly raced and posted eight victories from 28 starts for nearly $75K.

She was trained in NSW by Dennis Wilson and later Steve Turnbull during 2013 to 2015. Denises Legacy has produced one other winner from two to race in A Real Gentleman (Somebeachsomewhere), a winner of three from 25 starts.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink