Agent’s mission accomplished
The Orange Agent is staking a serious claim to be branded the best mare in New Zealand but she will have to wait until next season to prove it.
That burning question of who is the best mare in the country, cannot be answered until she clashes with Auckland Cup winner Dream About Me.
With The Orange Agent only three starts back from more than a year on the sidelines with a fractured pastern and Dream About Me currently resting a hoof problem – a much anticipated first clash is yet to happen and will not materialise anytime soon.
But what is clear, is that it takes more than an early start to take the sting out of The Orange Agent.
The $1.85 favourite gave champion reinsman Tony Herlihy his first victory in the $100,000 Group I PGG Wrightson New Zealand Breeders Stakes (2600m) at Addington on Friday night.
The Brian (Bunty) Hughestrained American Ideal mare was showing no ill effects of an early morning flight that saw her land in Canterbury at 5.30am on race day due to two days of flight delays because of fog.
The class mare has now won 20 of her 29 starts and is likely to undergo more travel with a Victorian trip on the horizon as her next mission.
Herlihy was positive off the gate and took The Orange Agent to the lead with just under two laps to run.
Piccadilly Princess came out of the trail to mount a spirited challenge but The Orange Agent comfortably fended her off to win by three-quarters of a length.
But despite winning her fifth Group I and doing it in national record time, The Orange Agent was forced to share the limelight with New Zealand Trotting Cup winner Lazarus.
The Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen-trained Lazarus scored the 19th win of his career on his first trip back to Addington since his Cup week Group I double.
He took some time to run past stablemate Heaven Rocks, but eventually cruised on by to win the four and five-year-old Group II Resource Recycling Technologies Superstars Championship (1950m) by three-quarters of a length over his stablemate, with a further two lengths back to Captain Dolmio.
Lazarus trailed Heaven Rocks, who blasted off the unruly to lead, before Purdon made his move coming off the back straight.
Lazarus paced the last 800m in 53.6 to record the fastest ever last half mile at Addington – taking over from Tim Butt’s Derby contender Let It Ride who clocked 53.8 seven nights earlier. His overall time was 2:16.8 with a mile rate of 1:52.8.
Meanwhile, Ultimate Machete cemented favouritism for next Friday night’s Group I New Zealand Derby when winning the Group II Vero Flying Stakes (1950m) over Northern Derby winner Raukapuka Ruler and Vincent.