Officials with Hoosier Park Racing & Casino have announced that they are ecstatic over the news that Lazarus – who has been dubbed by some as the greatest Standardbred racehorse to ever emerge from New Zealand – is expected to make his North American pari-mutuel debut at the Illinois oval.
Jimmy Takter, who is Lazarus’ North American trainer, announced yesterday that he is planning on entering the authoritative son of Bettors Delight to contest Hoosier’s 25th edition of the Dan Patch Stakes, which will be contested on Friday, August 10 and will offer a purse of $325,000.
Lazarus made his North American charted debut this past weekend at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as he recorded a scintillating 1:48.3 qualifying mile for driver Yannick Gingras (for a complete recap of the qualifier, including the replay, click here.)
Takter is planning on supplementing Lazarus to the Dan Patch for a fee of $25,000. Takter is no stranger to the Dan Patch winner’s circle, as he won the 2015 edition of the race with JK Endofanera.
Lazarus was recently purchased by world-renowned Thoroughbred farm Taylor Made Sales and Stallions of Nicholasville, Kentucky, as it returned to the Standardbred world with a huge splash.
The Dan Patch is for older male pacers and restricted to the 10 highest lifetime money-earners that enter.
“It is truly an honour to have a horse as incredibly renowned as Lazarus N make his North American debut at Hoosier Park during our 25th anniversary season,” said Hoosier Park Vice President and General Manager of Racing Rick Moore. “He’s taking the world by storm, and his presence at our 25th edition of the $325,000 Dan Patch Stakes is a testament to the racing program we’ve built here in Indiana.”
When the nominations closed for the Dan Patch Stakes, a total of 26 of the top-rated older pacers in North America were included in the lineup. William R. Haughton Memorial winner McWicked, who is currently ranked No. 2 in harness racing’s weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Poll, is among the list of eligibles. McWicked has won six of eight starts while amassing $574,561 in purse earnings this season. The Casie Coleman trainee is approaching $3 million in career earnings and is currently the top horse in harness racing’s older male pacer division.
As an added bonus, the winner of the 2018 Dan Patch Stakes will get an automatic nomination to the 2018 edition of the $175,000 (estimated) Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, which is slated for Friday, September 21 at Hoosier. All nomination fees will be waived, but in the event the winner of the Dan Patch has already been nominated to the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, a refund of all fees will be given upon declaration.
A winner of 35 of his 45 lifetime starts at the variety of distances raced in Australia and New Zealand, Lazarus N is the richest Down Under-bred Standardbred stallion of all time with earnings of NZ$3,821,066 (US$2,683,343). The New Zealand bred was named Pacer of the Year at ages three and four and was victorious in two editions of the prestigious New Zealand Cup and 15 Group One events overall. Lazarus N has only finished off the board once in his career.
The Dan Patch will serve as Indiana’s richest harness race of the season and will be broadcasted live on Indianapolis’s WISH-TV Channel 8.
(With files from Hoosier Park)