Racing: Kiwi trotting master turns to Aussie for Crown glory

Australian trainer Graeme Lang has been paid the highest compliment in trotting.

Because he has been entrusted with a potential young trotting star by the man other great trainers entrust with their elite trotters.

Lang will line up New Zealand-bred filly Landora's Pearl as one of the favourites in the A$163,000 Australasian Breeders Crown Final in Melton on Sunday, even though he had never heard of the filly a few months ago.

Landora's Pearl is usually trained by Canterbury horseman Paul Nairn, who many industry insiders rate as Australasia's premier trainer of trotters.

While Nairn only ever works a small team, he was the man training genius Tim Butt asked to take over champion trotter Stig when he couldn't get him going as a maiden.

"Paul is a wonderful trainer, his attention to detail and patience are something else," said Butt, the man who trained New Zealand's two richest trotters, Lyell Creek and Take A Moment.

So while Nairn is rated a master by our elite trotting trainer, he rates veteran Australian horseman Lang the same way.

"I was going to take this horse to Australia myself but I am a very hands-on trainer and I couldn't justify being there for a long campaign with just the one horse," said Nairn of Landora's Pearl.

"So I sent her to Graeme because he is one of the greats. I have been over there and stayed with him and he didn't need me poking around telling him what to do.

"He already knows.

"I sent her over and told him to send her back when she was finished."

The experiment has been a masterstroke as Landora's Pearl, who only raced twice in New Zealand, has already beaten some of the best juvenile trotters in Victoria and is now one of the leading hopes for a New Zealand success on Sunday's massive Breeders Crown programme.

"Graeme is happy with her and she is a good filly with good manners, so I think she'll be hard to beat," said the ultra-conservative Nairn. Landora's Pearl will be joined in the baby trotter's final by Pukekohe gelding Tuhimata Glass, who also looks a winning chance from barrier two.

The pair will lead off what could be a taxing day for the Kiwis, with the pacing races containing great Australian depth and most of the Kiwis having bad draws.

Nairn will watch the race from home but the next time he sends a good horse to Melbourne he won't be letting him out of his sight. Because that is where one of the main aims of Stig's season lies, at the Interdominions in February.

The recently-crowned trotter of the year is still recovering from a cracked bone in his hock but is likely to return to work in a few weeks.

Although that means he will miss the New Zealand Cup carnival in November his feature goals for the season will be the Interdominion and the Auckland and Rowe Cup meetings at Alexandra Park.

"He is still in the paddock and while it is a shame to miss Addington, time will be the best thing for him," said Nairn.

"In the long-term, I am looking forward to getting him back to Auckland and also Melbourne."

Where, if all goes well on Sunday, Lang will owe Nairn a drink or two for sending him a ready-made Breeders Crown contender.

UNSUNG KIWI HOPE
* Landora's Pearl is the unheralded New Zealand chance at Sunday's rich Australasian Breeders Crown meeting at Melton.
* Her Canterbury trainer Paul Nairn unselfishly sent her to Victorian trainer Graeme Lang for the series.
* She is a serious winning chance in Sunday's A$163,000 final.
* Nairn's champion trotter Stig is being aimed at a Melbourne and extended Auckland campaign this season.