Racing: Back home and Zuri keen to unveil best

A winless four-year-old season for Zuri should rapidly be just a memory as the giant trotter resumes tonight at Addington.

The Ken Ford-trained squaregaiter was the standout horse of his three-year-old season, both in stature and performance, but never showed his best when campaigned in Australia last season.

"I could never get him as good in Australia as he was in New Zealand," explained Ford. "At one point he popped a splint but he'd had a long season anyway and maybe he was telling us he'd had enough."

After winning the group three Holmfield at Moonee Valley as a late three-year-old, Zuri raced below his best in a heat of the Victoria Derby then uncharacteristically broke in the final.

Ford then decided to leave Zuri in Australia in the care of Graeme Lang and while he failed to win in seven starts he did impress his caretaker trainer.

"Graeme said if we left him in Australia and gave him a decent spell he could come back as good as any horse in the country," said Ford, "but I said we could do that here so we brought him home. He came back in December and we gave him four months out and then four months of jogging up. He's filled out a bit but he could fill out a bit more. He's so big that he might take until he's six or seven before he's fully mature."

Zuri showed his readiness for tonight's contest with a smart trial win at Addington on Tuesday. Importantly for a horse who has little experience from standing starts, Zuri stepped away safely to trail Mamalu before running past that horse in the straight.

"He only ever does as much as he has to do," said Ford. "He's so relaxed and easy to do anything with that he actually gives you a false sense of security at times. He's got one of the best attributes you can have in that he just relaxes at whatever speed you go."

Naturally enough Ford expects Zuri to improve with tonight's run, though there is every chance his class and manners will nonetheless carry him to victory. If he comes along as well as hoped, Ford says there is a chance that feature races such as the Dominion Handicap and Rowe Cup will be on the programme this season.

Zuri's opposition tonight contains the usual late-winter mix of fresh-up higher-class horses and more seasoned lower-graded runners.

At this time of year those horses in the latter category often have the edge, suggesting in-form types like Manakau Spur and Diedre Don may be the hardest to beat.

Meanwhile, in tonight's feature pace the mid-grade star of winter pacing in Canterbury, Jackson Browne, will be looking for improvement after finishing unplaced for the first time this campaign at Rangiora last week.

On that occasion Jackson Browne pulled hard and tended to hang, with driver Gerard O'Reilly reporting that he may also have choked down.

He should perform much better tonight with David Butt back in the sulky and racing against a field no stronger than those he has beaten repeatedly in recent months.