New Zealand's golden spring at Australia's rich racing carnivals continued when Sharp 'N' Smart defied the odds to win an A$2 million race in Sydney yesterday.
The Waikato galloper trained by legendary horseman Graeme Rogerson and his wife Debbie overcame being trapped three wide for the entire 2000m of the Spring Champion Stakes at Royal Randwick.
It was his second stunning display in Sydney in the space of 10 days, having won the A$500,000 Gloaming Stakes at Warwick Farm last week, and he will now aim for the even more prestigious A$2m Victoria Derby at Flemington next Saturday.
That means taking on fellow Kiwi and Derby favourite Mr Maestro, one of the other New Zealand gallopers who has contributed to an enormously more successful spring than Kiwi race fans could have hoped, after so many Kiwi Group 1 stars were retired last season.
Now two of that new generation will clash in that Derby next week, on a day when other stars La Crique and She's Licketysplit will be favoured in the A$1m Empire Rose to fly the New Zealand flag even higher.