Racing: Kerr's prayers answered with Pay Me Christian victory

Pay Me Christian, driven by David Butt, was a class above the rest of the field in winning the Sires' Stakes Final. Picture / Simon Baker

Paul Kerr is starting to become the trainer he always dreamed of.

The Canterbury horseman was one of the stars of the New Zealand Cup at Addington yesterday, winning the $150,000 Sires' Stakes Final with Pay Me Christian as well as the last race on the card with Nick Off Holme.

Pay Me Christian's victory was the richest of Kerr's career and is the next step toward the trainer fulfilling his lifetime goals in harness racing.

"I used to look at trainers like Barry and Mark Purdon five or 10 years ago and marvel at their teams," said Kerr.

"They would go to Cup day, or any other big meeting, with four or five winning chances and they usually won more than their share.

"I admired them for that and decided that was how I wanted my team to be. Maybe today I got a little closer to that," he said modestly.

Kerr admitted he could have taken the attitude some of his peers would take and resented the success of others, but it had spurred him on.

"You have to set your goals high, especially when you dedicate your life to something like training horses."

That attitude and his hotshot team will ensure that Kerr's star will be much more than a shooting meteor across the racing horizon.

In Pay Me Christian he has a fantastic equine athlete with the high cruising speed to suggest many more riches lie ahead.

"He has everything. He has great speed but what I can't wait to do is get him over ground.

"He will make an awesome Derby horse."

Pay Me Christian left little doubts about that in yesterday's 1950m event as he had to work hard over the first 600m before wresting the lead.

That saw him get stirred up and he had little rest before surging clear at the top of the straight to win easily.

It was a commanding performance from a horse Kerr says will only improve.

"I will be bringing him to Auckland for the Great Northern Derby and then, all going well, we will be off to Melbourne for the Victoria Derby.

"After all, to be a great three-year-old you need to win a Derby."

Kerr's stunning strike rate this season shouldn't surprise anybody as he has always dealt in good horses, but he admits Pay Me Christian could be the best.

"He has to be getting to that level."

He now has the luxury of splitting his attacks on the three-year-old riches, with stablemate Alta Sirocco, who wasn't on his best behaviour yesterday, to be aimed at the Sales Series Pace and Australasian Breeders Crown, races Pay Me Christian is not eligible for.

While Pay Me Christian left no room for excuses yesterday, several key rivals - Alta Sirocco, Tuherbs and Ambro The Thug - had little luck or raced below their best, suggesting they will be more competitive in the future.

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The confused nature of the open class trotting ranks could not have been better emphasised than in the main trot at Addington yesterday.

The race was won by 11-year-old battler Major Decision, downing the ramshackle mess that is the majority of New Zealand's best trotters.

With no Lyell Creek or Take A Moment to hold the open class trotters to account, a dozen of them are taking their turns winning.

Some class should return to the crop when Allegro Agitato and Pompallier reappear later in the carnival.

But yesterday Major Decision showed that a former top horse with a big heart is still good enough to hold out the pretenders in the open class ranks at the moment.

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Bella's Boy took the longest possible road to the winner's circle yesterday.

The former Victoria Derby winner caused the upset of the day at Addington, winning the free-for-all pace after another perfect drive from Colin De Filippi.

It was Bella's Boy's first visit to the winners circle in a long time but he has hardly been idle in recent years.

After a superb two- and three-year-old career he was sold to North America, didn't show his best there and returned to New Zealand to stand at stud.

His new trainer/studmaster Michael House put him back into work and after a stuttering campaign last season he proved yesterday he still has something to offer in open class.

Taylor Mile winner V For was a much-improved second in the same race but favourite Baileys Dream was a disappointing third in a race where the hardluck horse was Napoleon, who couldn't get a clear run when he needed it.