By MICHAEL GUERIN
After spending two years with Lyell Creek you would think it would take a lot for the champ to shock Phil Anderson.
But even the giant horseman has been stunned by the freakish trotter's latest display of toughness.
Anderson, stable foreman for trainer Tim Butt, accompanied Lyell Creek on his arduous 36-hour series of flights from Melbourne to Denmark before travelling on to Sweden and was left shaking his head when the pair arrived yesterday.
"As soon as I let him out in his paddock he was running around bucking like he had been there all his life," said Anderson, known to all as Prop because of his imposing physique suitable to rugby's front row.
"We all know how tough Lyell is but even I was amazed how well he copped the trip. He is absolutely perfect."
Lyell Creek flew from Melbourne to Singapore, then Sharjah and on to Scotland before stopping in Copenhagen for a 15-hour spell in a paddock before being floated to Stockholm.
And there will be no rest for the champ as he will start work today in preparation for his first Swedish start on May 3.
That first race is likely to be against moderate opposition before he takes on the world's best trotters in the Oslo Grand Prix on May 13 as a lead-up to his main mission, the Elitlopp in Stockholm on May 27.
Racing: Prop left stunned by Lyell's recovery
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