A Hong Kong Mile start for Golden Eagle runner-up Lazzat will depend on how the emerging star pulls up after a frantic finish to the A$10 million (US$6.7 million) race on Saturday.
Trainer Jerome Reynier told Idol Horse that he will closely monitor Lazzat after the four-year-old copped a battering in the tight closing stages of a rough-and-tumble race.
Lazzat returned to Sydney’s quarantine stables post-race and Reynier will have two weeks to decide whether or not to push on to the HK$36 million (US$4.6 million) Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin on December 8.
“He will remain at Canterbury for the next two weeks and we will keep a close eye on him,” Reynier said. “We will see how stiff he is and how he feels. We will check everything and if he is sound and happy.”
Reynier’s rising star gave as good as he got in the closing stages: Lazzat’s jockey Antonio Orani was suspended for one month and fined A$30,000 for shifting out, causing fifth-placed Stefi Magnetica interference, before Lazzat was on the end of a solid bump from winner Lake Forest, his jockey Cieren Fallon receiving a massive A$100,000 fine to go with his one-month ban.
Lazzat showed electrifying speed to recover from a slow start and lead the 1,500m race before being challenged for the lead in the middle stages by Tyler Schiller aboard Makarena.
“It was the worst thing that could have happened,” Reynier said of the mid-race pressure. “He ended up in front and some guy came and challenged him. Because the horse is so genuine he is going to give everything and he overdid it.
“I think Lazzat was a bit too keen because he hasn’t been racing for three months. Obviously after all of that time and in a big field, he charged, but once he got out in front he switched legs and took a good breath … but the challenge came too quickly. Why did he challenge us so soon? If he sat off us we both would have finished top two.”
Lazzat had won all of his six starts before the Golden Eagle and Reynier was encouraged by the performance but he said it exposed a weakness he hopes to rectify.
“He can’t lead all the time, we saw today how vulnerable that he can be,” said Reynier, who has had Lazzat race from behind in his track gallops. “He has enough pace to lead or sit beside the lead, but if he can slot behind the leaders – or at least have that option – he will be much better off than if he is up front being pressured.”
Another international option for Lazzat is Saudi Arabia in February and the US$2 million G2 1351 Turf Sprint over a unique distance (1,351m), a trip that seems ideal for the dominant G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest (1,300m) winner.
Lazzat’s owner Nurlan Bizakov has another international race on the horizon in the near future when his G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Charyn contests the G1 Mile Championship at Kyoto on November 17.
The Mile Championship will be Charyn’s final run before standing for Bizakov’s breeding operation, Sumbe, and the Kazakh owner said stud value wasn’t the main motivation for taking on Japan’s best milers.
“It won’t affect his stud value, because his fee will be announced this week. I guess if he wins it might give it a boost next year though,” Bizakov said. “Charyn’s trainer Roger Varian convinced me to take the horse to Japan. Roger has some Japanese connections, his wife Hanako is Japanese and he loves racing there.” ∎
