The hard man of New Zealand pacing may not be ready to be quite so hard at Addington tonight.

Which is why trainer Geoff Dunn thinks Laver (pictured) will need a hot pace set up by his rivals to have any chance in the $30,000 Maurice Holmes Vase, the next step on the road to the IRT New Zealand Cup.

Dunn and his son James train both Laver and The Falcon, the latter a newcomer to open class who will likely take a few runs or even months to get used to the rough and tumble.

But Laver loves the hard stuff and often charges around the field to inject real tempo and pressure into races, which makes him one of the most fun and important pacers in the country.

Dunn warns though that Laver may have to keep that particular brand of powder dry at Addington tonight.

“Both of ours are really well but a horse like Laver, to be driven the way he likes, you need to be really fit and it is hard to be that fit fresh up,” explains Dunn.

“I don’t think he is ready for that this week so I don’t think we will see the usual Laver.

“If he does move mid-race he probably won’t attack as hard so I actually think for once our best chance will be him sitting back, them going hard and him finishing over the top.

“But I think he is probably a run of two away from winning.”

The Falcon suggested he will eventually be an open class asset when he and race rival tonight Heza Sport sizzled over 2600m in a rapid 3:13 at the trials last week but Dunn is still trying to work out whether that was a good or bad thing.

“Sarah (O’Reilly, driver) said he just jogged that and he has seemed good since but I guess we will see on Friday.”

The Vase has the very even look these races do when the really big guns aren’t there, with Dunn’s brother Robert having four in the race. Heisenberg is rated their best chance.

The open class trot earlier looks easier to predict with Majestic Man looking too fast and too in-form for his rivals.

The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.