Spring stars return as Jumal attracts heavy support

A not-so-private workout last Saturday is one of the reasons Jumal has been smashed in the betting for his comeback race at Addington tonight.

But the Derby winner is just one of the giants of harness racing returning as some of the biggest names in the code start their spring campaigns in a sizzling hour tonight.

Horse of the Year Republican Party starts his New Zealand Cup campaign up against one of his heir apparents in Marketplace in the Chairmans Handicap, with the D G Jones Banks Peninsula Cup for the open trotters the next race and then the power hour wrapping with the Wai Eyre Farm Lazarus Stakes.

As enticing as the two open class races are it is the Lazarus Stakes for the three-year-olds that caught punter’s attention when the TAB markets were released and saw Jumal move fom $2.30 to $1.55 in the first 24 hours after opening.

That is rare for a horse whose form is so exposed and TAB harness bookmaker Ben Grimstone explained the seemingly generous opening price saying his team were unsure whether Jumal would be driven conservatively fresh-up from barrier 9 or put straight into the race.

Trainer Steven Reid says that decision will be left up to Jumal’s champion driver Blair Orange but while Jumal has only had one official trial the 12-from-14 pacer gave him the feel he wanted in a private workout at Rangiora last Saturday.

“I was going to trial him twice but Blair couldn’t drive him in the second one so I took him to Rangiora last Saturday for a private workout and he felt enormous,” says Reid.

“He hasn’t got much bigger over the winter but I think he has got better.”

The best version of Jumal would win tonight’s 1980m race more often than not and while he has plenty of race fit rivals drawn inside him few would have his raw speed.

He is by no means unbeatable, especially if he spends more than half the race three wide, but it is hard to imagine Orange won’t have him in the first four starting the last 800m.

It is also a case of if you don’t back him to win who do you back to beat him, with Freeze Frame (No.2) the one rival having proven he can do so, having downed Jumal in the Sires’ Stakes Final last November.

While Jumal was thumped into $1.55 by punters Marketplace opened not much longer at $1.65 even up against Republican Party in the NZI Chairman’s Pace.

Marketplace has long looked potentially our next open class star, a title that may be easier to seize with arch rival Got The Chocolates sidelined until next year.

He faces some queries tonight, being fresh up and off a 10m handicap in what is only his second standing start so trainer Regan Todd is realistic.

“I am not worried about any of those things but still realise how hard it is to win fresh up in this grade,” says Todd.

“Still, he only had three weeks off after racing Captains Mistress in Queensland over the winter and when he did have a standing start at the start of his last campaign he went super.

“I am happy with his condition and am confident he can win but there are some pretty good horses back there with him.”

Republican Party has been our best pacer for large parts of the last two years but as a seven-year-old off a 20m handicap he might need this outing so It’s Tough looms as Marketplace’s most likely challenger.

Sandwiched between the two excellent pacing races is the big trot in which Habibti Pat (R9, No.6) gets a decent handicap start over key rivals like Mighty Logan and Ya Rite Darl so she is the one to beat if they all behave themselves.

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand