Nurlan Bizakov fell in love with racing watching the sport in one of its most ancient forms. Bizakov, the oil baron and owner of Golden Eagle contender Lazzat, is a native of Kazakhstan where cross-country endurance racing known as ‘Baige’ is a must-see spectacle. “We are Kazakhs used to be nomads, so horses are in our blood,” Bizakov says.
“We are horsey people and I am ambitious enough to try and win every race. “It started as a hobby back in the 1990s with the endurance races and then I went to London one day in the 2000s, and watched racing there and thought ‘this is a different story’”. “I got lucky with the first horse I bought there.
” • PUNT LIKE A PRO : Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW ! That horse was Group 2 Lonsdale Cup winner Askar Tau and things have snowballed from there. Bizakov now operates his Hesmonds Stud, as part of his breeding business Sumbe, with a string of world class gallopers competing around the globe.
Lazzat is his latest emerging star with the Jerome Reynier -trained gelding aiming to become the first European galloper to win the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens this Saturday. • Golden Eagle Turf Talk: Lazzat ‘looks a serious animal’ For Bizakov, having a runner in the Golden Eagle has been an ambition more than 12 months in the making. H.