Mister Larrabee started his racing career wearing the Winx colours but has now been sent over the jumps to sharpen his mind for a tilt at the $200,000 Battle Of The Bush final at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
At the start of his racing career, Mister Larrabee was part-owned by Winx’s co-owner Peter Tighe and wore the famous Magic Bloodstock colours.
He won two of his first five starts but it has since been a career often filled with frustration, receiving separate racing bans for being slow to jump and also being slow to begin along with repeated warnings for being tardy out of the barriers.
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Trained by Stuart Kendrick on the Sunshine Coast and then Paul Shailer in NSW, Mister Larrabee was purchased for $14,000 in January by Mackay trainer John Manzelmann.
Manzelmann has got two wins with him including an incredible effort at Mount Isa when bombing the start hopelessly and storming home.
Manzelmann is hopeful he has cured Mister Larrabee’s issues at the start of races but admits he won’t be able to watch the first few seconds of Saturday’s 1200m dash at Eagle Farm.
“I’ve done a lot of work with him and I also sent him up to Aidan Holt in Townsville to put him over the jumps,” Manzelmann said.
“That actually got his mind thinking about jumping and he has improved heaps.
“Before that, he could miss the start hopelessly.
“One day at Mount Isa, the first win he had for me, it was amazing as he missed the start probably 10 lengths and he rounded up some good open sprinting horses.
“They were good tough horses and he rounded them up and beat them easily.”
Trainer John Manzelmann will be looking away when the barriers open for the Battle Of The Bush.
As long as four-year-old Mister Larrabee jumps away with them, Manzelmann feels he is a real knockout chance at $16 in latest betting.
“If he jumps and puts himself into a position, 100 per cent he is a winning chance,” Manzelmann said.
“He is drops down to 52kg and has drawn well in barrier three.
”My heart is still in my mouth with him at the start, I won’t look in the first 20m of the race.
“Hopefully he is already out of the barriers when I look.
“I was chasing a horse with decent ability and obviously, early on, they thought he had a lot of ability.”
Manzelmann also has mare Golden Athena ($34) chasing the Battle Of The Bush prize.
“She is as tough as teak and tries her guts out,” he said.