Givens smitten with Lazarus stock after Freehold upsets

At 74 years young, Delaware horseman, Wayne Givens, showed there is still plenty of petrol left in the tank with two upset harness racing victories at Freehold Raceway on Saturday afternoon (21 Sep), both via progeny of the dual hemisphere stallion, Lazarus N.

Givens has trained a plethora of winners over the years, 2145 to be exact, in a career that is entering its 35^th as a license holder.

The native of Seaford has trained some very good horses oveFr the years including the likes of Sicily (Art Major – $994,992), Empress Deo (Rocknroll Hanover – $693,698), Powerful Mist (Powerful Toy – $617,819) & Winbak Speed (Village Jove – $894,471).

The success with the aforementioned pacers saw Givens travelling interstate a bunch, however Saturday night was his first trip to New Jersey in the 2024 season and his pair of talented pacers made sure the trip was a profitable one.

The first came in the third on the Freehold Raceway programme with the royally bred colt, Mr Three O Five (Lazarus N). The former pupil of Nancy Takter was a $100,000 Lexington Select purchase back in 2022 out of the Kountry Lane Standardbreds draft of Ola Yoder.

Mr Three O Five is a great great grandson of the Legendary Rodine Hanover, with his dam World Of Rock (Rocknroll Hanover) a half-sister to Worldy Beauty (Artsplace), the dam of superstar pacer and producer, Captaintreacherous.

Givens has had Mr Three O Five in his care for less than a fortnight after purchasing the pacer from the Takter barn, with a fondness for the stock of Lazarus being a major selling point.

“I own a share in Lazarus and while I have only had three of them in the barn, I can honestly say I really like them. They have great temperaments and a good attitude to racing and this guy is no different,” said Givens.

“They don’t seem to know where the end of the mile is,” he said.

Mr Three O Five has been competitive in plenty of stakes races since making a winning debut as a two-year-old in a leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes. Since that win at his first race day start however, the son of Lazarus had found the winning post a little hard to come by.

MR THREE O FIVE REPLAY

He has hinted at a return to form with a close up third behind Arbitrage Hanover and Better Is Nice in the New jersey Sires Stakes 3YO Final back in May, but was well beaten in his most recent effort, finishing 5^th in the New Jersey Classic 3YO Final which was also won by Arbitrage Hanover.

Making his first appearance for Givens, the three-year-old colt found himself void of competition that he has been banging heads with at The Meadowlands and found himself in a division of the $30,000 Homegrown 3YO Pace without Arbitrage Hanover.

After being allowed to find his feet early from post four for Troy Beyer, the pair made there move from four back on the running line to get outside the leaders wheel entering the stretch and powered away for a well-deserved one length victory.

“I haven’t had him very long and that was the first time I raced him obviously. I trained him a few times and he gave me a good feel so I was quietly confident he would put in a good performance,” said Givens.

The winning time was 1:54.3 and although Givens was quietly confident, the fact Mr Three O Five paid $19 for the win and $8 for a place in the five horse field suggests he slipped under the radar of the betting public.

“He is just a nice horse. He is still a colt and he does everything perfect. I am thinking about lining him up in a Sires Stakes race next week at Freehold and he has another race he is eligible for at Pocono in the Simpson,” said Givens.

If the win of Mr Three O Five was a surprise, the win of BC’s Capela in the $60,000 Renaissance Final for two-year-old pacers was astonishing. Not so much in the manner of the victory but the fact the Lazarus juvenile paid $171.40 on the tote!

“I owned his mother and I raised him. He has always been a perfect mannered horse, and a nice horse to train. He helped me fall in love with the stock of Lazarus,” said Givens.

The homebred juvenile entered the $60,000 Renaissance Final boasting two wins and a second placing from four lifetime starts, the most recent of his victories coming earlier in the month at Givens home track at Harrington.

“Troy hadn’t driven him since his second qualifier and asked me what I thought of him. I told him he has done everything so far that we had of asked of him and to give him a shot,” said Givens.

BC’S CAPELA REPLAY

Give him a shot he did. Beyer adopted similar tactics with the Lazarus juvenile that saw him successful earlier in the programme for Givens, and after racing 4 back in the running line, launched BC’s Capela at the half and went to war with race leader Floor It Freddie (Cattlewash) for much of the final lap.

Despite never crossing down to the pegs, BC’s Capela showed immense resolve in hanging on for a massive upset victory, slashing almost two seconds off his lifetime best mile in the 1:55.3 performance.

“He still has some of the New Jersey races left and he is eligible for the Matron at Dover, so we will keep ticking him over and see how much he improves late in the season,” said Givens.

Givens trained the son of Lazarus’ Sportswriter dam, Capela, having claimed her at the back end of a career that saw her winning 12 times for over $275,000 in purses. BC’s Capela is her third foal having been twice mated to Givens former top pacer, Powerful Mist, but has a couple of full relatives to the son of Lazarus in tow.

“The mother was a good mare out of a good family and she won the Petticoat Series at Yonkers Raceway and has done a good job for me. She has a Lazarus by her side and one in her at this stage,” he quipped.

Givens who has held a training license since 1991 is more of a homebody at this stage of his career and elects to spend most of his time closer to home in Delaware, however the pair of Lazarus progeny might force him to put a few extra miles on the truck in the coming months.

“I don’t have a big team around me these days. I have probably 15 in my barn at the moment, and that keeps me out of trouble,” he laughed.

And while he is some ways from his season best 147 winners in 2009, the brace of winners showed there is still plenty of fight in the old boy yet and the winning feeling is one that never grows old.

“It was a great afternoon on the track and I got a massive thrill out of it,” he said.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink