By MICHAEL GUERIN
With the Auckland Cup just two days away Lorraine Nolan is a little nervous.
And that means fans of, and more importantly those betting on, Yulestar should be more than a little nervous.
The New Zealand Cup winner is a $3.50 favourite for Friday night's $250,000 classic even from his 15m backmark.
So unbelievable was his world record performance from a 10m handicap at Addington that at his peak, even 15m would not be enough to stop him adding this cup to his collection.
But that is the problem. Yulestar may not be at his peak on Friday night.
Nolan, who trains the giant pacer at Hawera, admits to not being as confident going into Friday's feature as she was taking Yulestar to Addington for the New Zealand Cup.
"He looks awesome and I am happy with him physically but my concern is his lack of racing." said Nolan.
Yulestar has not raced or trialled since finishing second to Agua Caliente in the Free-For-All on November 17, hardly the ideal preparation for a pacer of his mammoth proportions.
To put that in perspective, in the last 20 years no horse has won the Auckland Cup after such a long break away from the battle ground.
Such a lead-up would suggest Yulestar will need a super-equine performance to win but Nolan pulled off such a miracle when she produced him to win last season's Hunter Cup after a similar layoff.
This latest break was forced on Nolan.
"He was very tired when he got home after cup week," she explains.
"He needed a quiet time and since then we have been given him strong work and a lot of 3200m runs."
Yulestar worked between races at Stratford recently but wasn't asked to go any faster than 3:30 for 2400m on a heavy track.
Nolan has since stepped up his training mileage, adding more 3200m workouts.
The fastest of those saw Yulestar work only 4:30 at Hawera last weekend.
"It wasn't a bad effort because he was off the rails and the grass was long and a little easy."
Nolan still knows Yulestar is going to need some sharpening up to give Holmes D G and co a 15m start on Friday.
The 6-year-old travelled north to Cambridge on Monday night and had a fast workout at Cambridge yesterday and will have another tomorrow.
"It has not been an ideal way to get ready for the cup but he will be hard to beat."
While Yulestar was simply incredible winning the New Zealand Cup he went into it with two races and a trial in the previous three weeks. That saw him strip in the best condition of his life and once he led, the cup was over.
On Friday, with his fitness possibly 5 per cent below peak and on a track he does not glide around as comfortably as the huge expanses of Addington, he will be vulnerable.
But if he can overcome those odds he will win much more than just a cup. He will earn the right to be ranked as one of the greatest standardbred stayers ever born.
Earning that sort of honour is not supposed to be easy.
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