KEY POINTS:
TAB bookmakers are bracing themselves for a possible avalanche of money on glamour pacer Auckland Reactor.
The 3-year-old remains on track for Horse of the Year honours after keeping his unbeaten record intact in the $50,000 Southern Supremacy Stakes at Invercargill on Saturday.
While he won no easier than expected, Auckland Reactor added another chapter to his unbelievable story when pacing his final 800m, off the front and electronically timed, in 54 seconds.
While pacers have been hand-timed in slightly faster times when coming from back in the field in this country, the effortless 54-second surge is the fastest official last 800m paced in this part of the world.
That added weight to the growing tide of belief that Auckland Reactor - still in his first season of racing - may not be just the best young pacer in the country but close to the best pacer of any age.
He won't get a chance to prove that any time soon but he looks certain to be at the centre of some massive betting come the Harness Jewels on May 31.
On Saturday, one punter placed $25,000 on him to win at $1.10, collecting $2500 for just over 200 seconds work. It proved once again that punters don't mind taking the skinniest of odds on top pacers.
And TAB harness bookmaker Steven Richardson knows those sort of punters will be queuing up to support Auckland Reactor in his last race of the season, in the 3-year-old Harness Jewels at Cambridge on May 31.
Auckland Reactor is paying only $1.30 on the fixed odds over a month out from that race but if he draws the front line he could start as short as $1.10. But that won't deter some of New Zealand's bravest punters.
"We have found with the harness races in the past, a horse like him or Changeover are the types that attract the really big bets, the $10,000 or more types when they draw well in mobile races," said Richardson.
If those things fall into place for Auckland Reactor at the Jewels he will not only be the centre of some huge individual bets but the meeting is on a Saturday and will feature fixed odds betting on every race, as well as having a premier galloping meeting at Ellerslie just up the Southern Motorway.
And it is also Super14 rugby final day, with Auckland Reactor just the type of horse to attract sports punters enough to include him in their cross-sport multi bets.
"Horses like him are the ones the gallops punters are happy to have huge bets on fixed odds or in multis because they think they are just certainties and they are probably right," said Richardson.
So a well-drawn Auckland Reactor as the anchor in possibly tens of thousands of multi bets could be one of the most watched harness horses in New Zealand in years.
Not that that will phase his Rolleston co-trainer and driver Mark Purdon, who is having the greatest season of his career.
He and training partner Grant Payne are 31 wins clear on the premiership and their horses have now amassed $1,813,628 in stakes.
All of which, remarkably, without a group one open class pacing or trotting win.
That total is $180,000 better than Purdon's previous season's best and he has the favourites for well over $1 million worth of races to come this season.
Like Auckland Reactor, Purdon looks unstoppable.
