Racing: A trotting hero gets feet wet when the sun hides

The rain should have been a warning.

It is not supposed to rain during cup week in Christchurch. It is supposed to be one of those perfect weeks when great horses become champions and champions write pages in the racing history books that will be spoken about for years, maybe decades, to come.

But at Addington yesterday the sun went behind the clouds and the rain fell.

And Lyell Creek got wet.

New Zealand's only true harness racing hero was inexplicably beaten in the $50,000 New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All. After 20 wins on end he lost. And even worse he committed the cardinal sin any trotter can commit. He paced.

Only for a stride, with just 50m to go, Canterbury racing's favourite son changed from his trotting gait into a pace and then into a gallop.

That allowed outsider Sunny Action to duck up his inside to a victory that silenced the crowd.

To make matters worse Lyell Creek was relegated from second to third for because he was within a length of Sundon's Way when the break occurred. Sundon's Way was promoted from third to second.

This was the first time he has been beaten in a race for 22 months.

It ended his shot at breaking Courage Under Fire's New Zealand record for a horse of either code of 24 consecutive wins.

As always when a shock wave of this enormity flows across the racing landscape there were theories.

Maybe it was muscle soreness or a minor leg problem which prompted the champ to leave the gait that has bought him fame and fortune.

Maybe he didn't like driver Anthony Butt giving him a tap with the whip, a rare occurrence but one which has happened before without such spectacular results.

And maybe Lyell Creek didn't like being restrained into the trail where he was chewing steel for most of the race after being beaten out of the mobile.

But maybe the biggest concern was no Lyell Creek pacing and then galloping. He is after all, by pacing stallion Roydon Glen.

The biggest concern could be that Sunny Action and his other rivals were even close enough to put pressure on Lyell Creek.

So why? What turned our greatest trotter into a pacer and then a galloper.

Those closest to him simply did not know.

Trainer Tim Butt confirmed the champ had gone into the race 100 per cent.

Driver Anthony Butt was equally as mystified.

Owner Graeme Bruton hid what must have been the worst pain of a life in racing as well as he could.

He shrugged and produced out that famously inane quote, "That's racing."

The shock could hardly have come at a worse time - with Bruton revealing yesterday he had turned down an offer from an Auckland-based syndicate of $250,000 for a 10 per cent share in his superstar.

Butt confirmed if Lyell Creek works well this week he will still defend his Dominion Handicap title next Friday.

All the big plans, returning to Aussie and possible world domination next year, are still on.

But maybe now their is light at the end of trotting's tunnel.

Rival trainers and drivers may believe they can beat the freak and will think twice about handing from the front to the champ and accepting the crumbs from his table.

After a year of the most complete monopoly New Zealand trotting has ever seen, we could have the sniff - and bear in mind it is only a sniff - of competition in the open class trotting ranks.

Because Lyell Creek lost more than a horse race yesterday.

He lost his aura of invincibility.