By MICHAEL GUERIN
Christian Cullen could not have picked a better time to come back to winning form.
The champion pacer returned to the track after a three-month layoff at Ashburton yesterday, bolting away from some weak trials opposition.
He paced the 2400m mobile in a handy 3:0.3, his last 800m in 58.2 seconds, which is hardly going to have his open class rivals shaking in their boots just yet.
But his return at least shows he is sound and was a first step towards the $1million Interdominions in Melbourne next month.
Which will make at least two big punters happy.
Christian Cullen was the centre of two enormous bets on Monday to win the Inters..
One bet of $12,000 at 10-1 was taken by Sydney bookmaker Steven Single while a Melbourne punter invested $14,000 at 8-1.
Those bets, coupled with yesterday's trial win, have seen the pacing icon tumble to 7-2 for the Inters, making him second favourite behind Courage Under Fire.
There have also been large bets on Courage Under Fire, Slug Of Jin and Shakamaker but little support for Holmes D G or Homin Hosed in a betting market which is rapidly becoming one of the hottest in Inter history.
A Sydney bookie like Single could usually expect to hold around $60,000 on a feature Harold Park race - nearly twice that amount has already been invested on the Inters and the final in still two months away.
While Christian Cullen won't be returning to Alexandra Park this month, Auckland Trotting Club officials were thrilled yesterday after attracting incredibly strong fields for the opening night of their Cup carnival on Friday.
Racing: Cullen on right path to Inters
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