Racing: Pompallier feeling the heat in Australian foray

Good news for fans of northern trotter Pompallier: He has stopped sweating.

The bad news is trainer Richard Brosnan still has no idea what to expect when the group one winner makes his Australian debut at Ballarat on Saturday night.

Pompallier contests the first, and easiest, of the two Interdominion trotting heats and with Delft the only other series favourite in his race anything like a peak effort would make him very hard to beat.

That is the problem though - Brosnan isn't sure Pompallier is at his peak and won't know until he has his first searching workout today since arriving in Australia last Saturday.

"The first three days I couldn't do too much with him because he won't stop sweating," explains Brosnan.

"The day we got here it was 40C and then next day it was 43C. It was like walking into an oven and it left me drained so I can only imagine how he felt. It is a little better now, somewhere in the mid 30s and at least it means I can give him a proper workout to see where we are before Saturday night."

Pompallier is just the sort of horse to crack under that sort of pressure and Brosnan says for that reason he will go into Saturday's race underdone.

"I have freshened him right up to let him get over the trip and the heat so I'd like to think there will be a fair bit of improvement in him."

Brosnan, who would be a finalist for the fiercely-contested title of the most conservative trainer in harness racing, also doesn't like the look of Pompallier's draw at one on the 10m mark in the 2710m heat.

"That is the worst possible draw for him because he can get a bit funny down there so he is up against it a bit.

"Hopefully I will know more after this workout."

If Pompallier was able to produce the form that saw him thrash his rivals in the Dominion Handicap he could be good value on the Australian totes as he is almost as unknown to their punters as his trainer.

Brosnan has only driven a handful of winners in Australia, one of them being the mighty No Response in a heat of the Interdominions.

"I haven't driven over here for 15 years but I want to drive him this week so I can see where he is and then maybe Colin [De Fillipi] will come over for the second heat or the final."

Pompallier opened as the $5 second favourite yesterday with Australian bookmakers for his heat, with Delft immediately backed in from $4 to $3.25.

Genius is the $3.25 favourite for the other heat over Australian star A Touch Of Flair.

Pay Me Christian has been rated unbeatable by Australian bookmakers in his heat of the Victoria Derby, with CentreRacing opening him at $1.35 but the bookmaking giants are willing to take on the two Kiwis in later heats, Monkey King and Tuherbs.

Monkey King is well drawn in the second heat and should win but is rated a $2 chance while Tuherbs, who was stunning at the Pukekohe workouts last Tuesday, is a $3.50 equal favourite in his heat in the pre-post markets.