Racing: Vulnerable Krug cops extra work

Krug will be asked to dig deeper on Tuesday. Photo / Trish Dunell

Trainer Nathan Purdon is going to ask superstar pacer Krug to dig deeper to hold on to his three-year-old crown.

The two-time Group 1 winner finds himself in the unusual position of not being favourite for the $150,000 Sires' Stakes Final at the iconic New Zealand Cup meeting at Addington on Tuesday, for a variety of reasons.

Not only has he drawn the second line while arch rival It's All About Faith looks the likely leader from the ace but Krug has looked vulnerable in both his latest race and at Wednesday's Addington Cup trials.

He hung when beaten in a heat of this series at Ashburton last week and again when well beaten behind Amazing Dream in his trial on Wednesday.

Purdon drove Krug himself in the trial and detected two problems he needs to fix by Tuesday.

"He hung again on the last bend," said Purdon. "I had a rein burr on him but we might go back to a boring pole for Tuesday."

The other issue was Krug blew heavily after the race, confirming what his trainer suspected.

"We have reduced his workload the last couple of weeks because it has been such a long campaign," he offers. "But that has meant he is short of his best and he can't win on Tuesday like that so we are going to up his work.

"He is by Bettors Delight and they can usually cop the extra work so we are going to up it every day and try to get him back to his peak for Tuesday."

Even if he does, Krug is going to need to come from behind It's All About Faith to win, almost certainly covering extra ground, as will the other favourite, American Dealer.

That is not impossible but with It's All About Faith having such good gate speed and few expected challengers until the other favourites circle, the race looks his to lose.

"I think the draw makes It's All About Faith the one to beat now," says Purdon. "But we know how good our horse is so maybe, with that extra work, he can fight back again."

The Sires' Stakes is just one of four Group 1 races on harness racing's biggest day and there has already been considerable market movement in the $540,000 New Zealand Cup with Copy That replacing Self Assured as the favourite.

That is primarily because of the concerns over the latter's standing start manners, which have seen him drift from $2.70 to $3.20.

Meanwhile, Majestic Man has opened at $3.20 to win the NZ Trotting Free-For-All from barrier two, and Amazing Dream is still $1.30 for the Nevele R Mares Final even from the outside of the front line.