Horse racing: Comeback race shines light on Lady’s fitness at Alexandra Park

Lady Of The Light has contested Auckland Cups so drops well back in grade tonight. Photo / Trish Dunell

One of the great strengths of New Zealand’s best-ever standardbred stallion Bettors Delight could also be a reason Lady Of the Light gets beaten at Alexandra Park tonight.

Lady Of The Light opened as the favourite for tonight’s $20,000 Thank You To The ATC Stewards Handicap Pace, in which she faces a 20m handicap over 2200m.

Overcoming that alone is no easy feat but adding to her factor of difficulty is Lady Of The Light being fresh-up tonight since January and having only had two workouts.

“There is only so fit you can get them without a race,” trainer Jeremy Young said.

“So she will improve and you find with most of the Bettors Delights [stock of the stallion], they always improve with a run under their belt.

“That is one reason they are such good horses, they keep getting better but I think punters should take that into account tonight.”

There is no doubting Lady Of The Light’s class. She took on Republican Party and Merlin in the Auckland Cup two starts ago and at her best is one of the toughest mares in the country.

But Young thinks the more seasoned Mantra Blue should actually be tonight’s favourite, even though she has to give Lady Of The Light a 10m start and more to some handy other rivals in the small field.

“I am not saying our mare can’t win but I think Mantra Blue is the one to beat.”

Both mares could struggle to get into the fight in the first half of the race as their four other rivals are likely to set up a steady tempo to make the most of their handicap advantage.

But Mantra Blue still appeals as the best bet in a tricky little race.

In the very next race, Young also brings his stable trotting star back to the races with Eyre I Will fresh up since May 30 in another 2200m standing start – but at least he is starting on the front line.

He was a consistent improver last campaign and finished seventh in the Group 1 Anzac Cup in April and Young thinks he will continue to improve.

“He has done a great job for the owners and will do that again this campaign but like the mare, he is fresh-up against fit opposition.”

Backmarkers Belle Neige and Lord Popinjay might be the best two trotters in tonight’s small field but again if the tempo is on it could play into the hooves of Castana, who should be handy throughout from barrier 1.

Castana’s stablemate Somebody (Race 4, No 3) has emerged as the threat to hot favourite Redpark Warrior in tonight’s 2-year-old trot while one of the highlights of the card will be the opening heat of the Dunstan Horse Feeds Sires’ Stakes for the juvenile pacing fillies, which has drawn a full field of 13 with plenty of depth.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.