By MICHAEL GUERIN
Tony Shaw became a believer yesterday.
Not that he has ever doubted Yulestar could win next month's New Zealand Trotting Cup.
After all, the pair beat an even hotter field in the Hunter Cup at Moonee Valley last season.
That proved to Shaw and just about everybody else in harness racing Yulestar is good enough to win a New Zealand Cup.
But until yesterday Shaw had problems believing it.
His conservatism is easy to understand. The New Zealand Cup is the race all New Zealand reinsmen dream of winning. And it can be a little scary when you started to believe your lifelong dream may be about to come true.
Especially for a horseman like Shaw.
Just like with Yulestar, there is no doubting Shaw's ability. But a lack of regular winning driving opportunities means he does not sit at the table of our most elite drivers.
He is good enough to be there but that takes a consistent supply of good horseflesh. Shaw has one good horse. But the good news for him is that one horse could be the best in New Zealand.
After yesterday's Ashburton Flying Stakes, Shaw knows his dream can come true.
Yulestar showed his now annual form improvement that seems to be an automatic part of crossing Cook Strait for him.
The giant tracks of the South Island suit his enormous stride and relentless racing style. He loves to get rolling, keep rolling and run the sprint out of the show ponies.
He did that yesterday, looping the field to control the race in the middle stages, maintaining a near-national record pace which meant the challenges simply didn't eventuate.
"He felt right back to his best. He just loves it down here, he is a different horse," said Shaw of Yulestar's improvement over a disappointing last-start Alexandra Park fourth.
There is more to Yulestar's improvement though than just bigger tracks. The biggest advantage he gains every time he heads south is fitness.
At home Yulestar's trainer Lorraine Nolan works him on the soft Hawera grass track, which means his regular 2400m workout times are up to 10 seconds slower than most of his open class rivals working on harder surfaces.
But in the South Island he works on an all-weather track, the workout times come down and the fitness levels go up.
"Just the way he felt in his preliminary I knew he was a different horse and if we can get him to Addington on Cup day in that condition then it is going to take a top horse to beat him.
"I always knew he could win the Cup but it is funny being this close and realising it could be about to come true."
Yesterday's win promoted Yulestar to $5 equal Cup favouritism with Holmes D G.
While it was a perfect Cup trial there is still one Cup concern for the giant pacer who could give Taranaki its first New Zealand Cup.
He is a difficult horse to keep fit and he now has three weeks to the Cup without a race, Nolan having to peak him with just one more trial.
It is a big ask but Nolan pulled off a similar balancing act last season when Yulestar had a month off between his Auckland Cup second and his Hunter Cup victory.
Nolan has proved she can do it. We know Yulestar can do it. And after yesterday Tony Shaw is starting to believe he can to.
Racing: Yulestar convinces Shaw his dream can come true
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