Even Mark Purdon was surprised at the acceleration Auckland Reactor displayed when powering to a New Zealand harness racing record win in today's Junior Free-For-All at Addington Raceway. In fact the Rolleston horseman likened the brilliant 5-year-old to driving a Ferrari.
"It was like he had a turbo button. The only way I could describe his accelration was like driving a very nice car like a Ferrari or a Porsche. Sometimes when you drive nice cars you can be startled by how fast you are actually going when you look at the speedo. It was like that today, he was cruising in top gear," Purdon said.
The Mach Three entire paced the 1950m mobile in a scintilating 2:17.8 - smashing Awesome Armbro 2008 record of 2:20.2. His winning mile rate was a slashing 1:53.7 with final 800m and 400m sectionals of 54.8 and 26.9 seconds. Fake Chance and Ohoka Dallas were a distant second and third.
"He's unbelievable. He was really jumping out of his skin today. He was primed for the race. He will strip nicely for Friday's Free-For-All," said Purdon, who co-trains Auckland Reactor at Rolleston with Grant Payne.
The Reactor has now won 25 of his 29 starts and placed two others for $1.46 million in stakes.
It wasn't the only record set by a Purdon and Payne runner today. The Canterbury duo have had a phenomenal day winning four races in a row after just six races.
Mercurio won the second event, with Mercurio (race two) and Joyfuljoy in race five. But it was Highview Tommy's race record in the third event which had the time-keeper taking a second glance at his stopwatch.
The 4-year-old son of Bettor's Delight equaled Desperate Comment's 2600m mobile record of 3:08.5 thrashing his opponents by 3-3/4 lengths. His winning mile rate was 1:56.6 with final 800m sectionals of 56.8 and 28.2 seconds. It was his 11th win from 31 strats and his third in a row this campaign.
Driver Blair Orange described him as the perfect racehorse.
"He's got a beautiful gait and I drove him like he did (three wide and parked) because he is a genuine stayer. He's matured so much as a racehorse in the last 12 months. That has been the making of him," Orange said.
Meanwhile the seco nd favourite Band On The Run suffered a suspected heart fibrillation and ran a long and lonely last.
"He never felt right at any stage and that's why I pulled him up," Dexter said.
The horse has since been vet checked and is on the road to a quick recovery.
Results from the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's New Zealand Cup meeting at Addington Raceway today (Tuesday) were:
Race 1: The Mark Jones trained and driven UNIQUE STAR (Sundon).
Race 2: The Mark Purdon & Grant Payne trained MERCURIO (Christian Cullen) Mark Purdon.
Race 3: The Mark Purdon & Grant Payne trained HIGHVIEW TOMMY (Bettor's Delight) Blair Orange.
Race 4: The Mark Purdon & Grant Payne trained AUCKLAND REACTOR (Mach Three) Mark Purdon.
Race 5: The Mark Purdon & Grant Payne trained JOYFULJOY (Mach Three) Blair Orange.
Race 6: The Lynn and Justin Smith trained SPECULATE (Sundon) Justin Smith.
Race 7: Pending.
Duane RANGER and Steve DOLAN
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