“I think he has a chance, as much as anybody else,” Patrick Lachance said of his Grand Circuit-bound sophomore colt, who showed the trainer he was a horse with

heart last year.

Despite battling growing pains through part of the summer, Sir Ziggy Z Tam won four times on the New York Sire Stakes circuit and finished second in the $200,000 championship. Lachance then sent the colt into open stakes company and he was third in divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion stakes at the Red Mile and third in the Matron Stakes final at Dover Downs.

Named after Lachance’s nickname, the colt won four of 13 races last year and earned $223,595 for Bill Matz’s Z Tam Stables, Ira Rosenblum and Lachance. Sir Ziggys Z Tam was rated No. 20 in the Experimental Ratings for three-year-old pacers, which attempt to predict the season’s fastest three-year-old pacers.

“We liked him all along,” Lachance said. “He showed a lot of ability all the way through. We wanted to see how he would do on the Grand Circuit and he didn’t embarrass himself. He held his own. We were happy with that. We’re just hoping for him to get a little bigger and stronger this year and we’ll see what happens. We kept him eligible to a lot of Grand Circuit stuff, so hopefully he’s going to earn his shot.”

Among the major prizes on their schedule are the Meadowlands Pace and Breeders Crown. Lachance believes Sir Ziggys Z Tam can compete at the top level, but he will let the horse dictate where he races.

“I think he has a chance, as much as anybody else,” he said. “We’ll take it one week at a time. If he shows that he’s real good and real strong and doing everything right, we’ll try him. If not, we’ll keep following the sire stakes and go that route. I hate to overshoot things and end up with nothing. But if it looks like he can handle the Grand Circuit, that would be great. We could take a shot at that. That would be awesome.”

Sir Ziggys Z Tam is a son of Art Major out of the mare So Far Away. He was purchased for $55,000 (under the name Destination Afar) at the Lexington Selected Sale. So Far Away's previous three foals all won at least three races and she and her nine siblings combined to win 105 times and earn $1.09 million.

“He was well proportioned,” Lachance said. “He had good conformation. Everything was good on him. We’re always looking for bargains. For us, $55,000 is a top price. You can still try to get enough pedigree where you can put yourself in a situation where maybe you can do some good on the Grand Circuit.

“For that price, we liked the way he looked and thought the [pedigree] page had enough on there where he could hit. We took a shot at it. That’s the way we go with everything.”

Lachance expects Sir Ziggys Z Tam to qualify in about a month and return to the races in late May. After seeing the way the colt performed last year, Lachance is hopeful about this season.

“He showed a lot of class to me,” Lachance said. “I was really happy about that. So far so good.”

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This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.