The Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen-trained pacer capitalised on a beautiful one-one sit to run down stablemate Dream About Me in yesterday's group 2 event regarded as the best form guide to next month's cup.
The win only confirmed the views of many, including TAB bookmakers who reset the horse's New Zealand Cup price to $1.70, that Lazarus looks nearly impossible to beat in the cup.
The latest round of rankings for the the race showed 15 horses are entered for the race, down from 28 who held nominations at the beginning of last month.
With few horses seemingly having a genuine chance of beating Lazarus, unless disaster strikes before or during the 3200m event, rival connections will be questioning whether they should stump up $11,000 to start in the race.
Purdon confirmed after yesterday's race that Lazarus would line up again in the Kaikoura Cup on Monday.
No Doctor Needed went a commendable race yesterday after dragging the winner into the race, while Piccadilly Princess also performed well but neither emerged as genuine Cup threats.
Dream About Me and Robbie Burns raced on the speed and both seemingly had every chance to win the race.
Have Faith In Me set his Cup hopes back by bungling yesterday's standing start while fellow All Stars runner Waikiki Beach looked outclassed.
However, yet another All Stars runner in Heaven Rocks got his campaign back on track with a slashing run for third after missing the start.
The connections of Heaven Rocks will be eager to confirm his entry in the New Zealand Cup and hoping his standing start mistake yesterday will not be repeated as he continues his preparation.
The big-striding pacer flew home into third wide on the track to turn around his poor Canterbury Classic performance which was put down to a hoof injury.
The list of cup-nominated horses who did not compete in yesterday's race is headed by Otago pacer Titan Banner, who has stamped himself as a genuine threat with his outstanding-lead up form, and Jack's Legend.
Across the Tasman, former Canterbury pacer Tiger Tara emerged in Sydney as another possible cup contender.
The Kevin Pizzuto-trained pacer backed up his big run for third to Lennytheshark in the Victoria Cup with a 1min 51.3sec mile win at Menangle on Saturday.
After the race, Pizzuto reported that the horse was a likely cup starter.
Next month's Dominion is in complete contrast to the New Zealand Cup with 33 horses competing for 15 places.
Great Things Happen consolidated his chances in the race with a runaway win in yesterday's group 3 Ashburton Trotters Flying Mile.
The Gavin Smith-trained and driven trotter backed up his mammoth runner-up effort in this month's Ordeal Trotting Cup with a stylish front-running win yesterday.
Earlier on the programme, The Dorchester charged into the record books yesterday by pacing the fastest 2400m recorded in New Zealand.
The Mitchell Kerr-trained 3yr-old's 2:52.5 time bettered Nek Time's previous open mark of 2.53.0, set at Winton in March.
The Dorchester careered away from a handy middle-grade field to win by more than seven lengths.
