Trained and driven by Mark Purdon, the four-year-old will start odds-on after being a surprise inclusion in the Cup when nominations closed on Monday.

Lazarus was the outstanding 2yo and 3yo of his year – win 13 of 15 starts over those two seasons – and has quickly established himself as a boom Australasian grand circuit campaigner by taking out the 2016 NZ Trotting Cup-NZ Free-For All double

He resumed from a freshen up with a win at Waikato earlier this month and the Ballarat Pacing Cup will be just his third career Australian start. He won a Victoria Derby heat in Ballarat and the final at Melton a year ago.

Lazarus will clash with two Inter-Dominion champions in his stablemate Smolda and Lennytheshark in what shapes as a classic battle.

Smolda and Lennytheshark finished one-two in last year’s Ballarat Pacing Cup and are on the third and second line of betting respectively.

Smolda won the Inter-Dominion championship final in Perth last month – a year after Lennytheshark claimed the crown – and then went on to take out the South Australian Cup.

Lennytheshark has not raced since the last round of Inter-Dominion heats, after which he was scratched from the final.

The Ballarat Pacing Cup has attracted a field of eight, with four Ballarat district-trained runners – this season’s Geelong and Horsham Cup winner Major Secret and Young Modern from the premier stable of Emma Stewart at Cardigan; It Is Billy (trained by Mick Barby, Daylesford); Savesomtimetodream (Paul Rowse, Ross Creek).