Blitzthemcalder has drawn the otuside of the front row in his first New Zealand start tomorrow night.
Two of Victoria’s superstar trotters are heading to New Zealand to try and stem usual one-way flow of feature-race cash.
And one of them is set to start favourite at group one level in his New Zealand debut.
That is the case for Blitzthemcalder in Friday night’s $80,000 New Zealand Trotting Derby at Addington.
He has opened the $2.60 favourite with the NZ TAB even after drawing the outside of the front line in the 2600m classic.
He was brilliant winning at Melton last start and looks one of the best of his age ever produced in Australia so Kiwi-born trainer Ross Payne has been eyeing a return home with him since last August.
While he meets a local crop crammed with talent, Blitzthemcalder has pleased Payne with how he has settled at Mark Purdon’s Canterbury stables but will start from the outside of the front line, with Victorian superstar reinsman Chris Alford coming across to drive him.
While Blitzthemcalder is about to make his New Zealand debut, ABC winner Elegant Image will be on trial for a trip at Melton on Monday night.
His trainer Andy Gath is one of the few Australian trotting trainers to have tasted group one success in New Zealand, having won a Rowe Cup with champion mare La Coocaracha in 2002.
Now he is eyeing a return with Elegant Image for this month’s Rowe Cup carnival, even though he knows the five-year-old isn’t in that great mare’s class.
A keen form student, Gath realises that with I Can Doosit out until next year, Stig suffering soreness issues and Vulcan heading to Sweden, our open class trotting ranks are vulnerable.
Add to that Dr Hook being sidelined for the rest of the season and The Fiery Ginga staying on in Victoria at least temporarily and Alexandra Park looks enticing to Gath.
Elegant Image was second best to Vulcan in the Great Southern Star two weeks ago, suggesting he deserves a ticket across the Tasman.
“It is always hard to beat the Kiwis at home but with a few of them sidelined I think it is worth a shot,” says Gath.
“So we will have a special trial for him right-handed at Melton on Monday night and if he pleases me he will come across.”
Elegant Image could contest the Greenlane Cup on April 19 before the $100,000 Anzac Cup on April 26 and then his main aim, the A$150,000 Rowe Cup on May 3.
A win or a few placings in those races would also earn him enough money for a start in the new five-year-old division of the Harness Jewels at Ashburton on June 2.
Meanwhile, the NZ TAB has opened Victoria Derby winner Ohoka Punter the $1.50 for the New Zealand Pacing Derby tomorrow night while Christen Me is a $1.30 favourite for his race tomorrow night, which will decide whether he heads to Sydney to chase a Miracle Mile start on April 28.
And Vulcan’s trip to Sweden has been moved forward, with the tiny trotter to leave Auckland next Tuesday.
“The flights suit and he will go to Amsterdam, have a few days rest and then head to Stockholm,” said trainer Tim Butt.
Butt hopes to races Vulcan in Stockholm in the first week of May before the Elitlopp on May 26.
