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Not sure Coniston Bluebird's gut-busting win in Sunday's $2.2 million Telecom Derby was a good thing for the image of our horses in the eyes of the Aussies.
First, we had Sir Slick racing like a rocking horse in Melbourne then returning home and winning a group one at Trentham
within two weeks.
They'd barely crossed the line in the Thorndon Mile before the Kiwis could hear the guffawing from across the Tasman.
Now we've got an Aussie horse that's not rated in his home country winning the richest race yet run in New Zealand.
The Aussie's haven't forgotten that two years ago Redoute's Dancer came here from Sydney and won the Derby, returned home and got spanked, finishing sixth in the Rosehill Guineas and eighth in the AJC Derby before being retired.
But it's worth remembering that last year Nom Du Jeu finished fourth in the Derby at Ellerslie and went over and produced a terrific performance to win the AJC Derby.
Red Ruler who was eighth when unsuited by the wet track at Ellerslie, finished second to Nom Du Jeu at Randwick.
And for good measure, Boundless went with them and became the greatest certainty beaten of the entire carnival when second in the AJC Oaks.
They were all top efforts despite the Aussies claiming it was the year of EI and therefore not all the best local 3-year-olds had appeared.
But the last word on all this goes to Coniston Bluebird's Australian part-owner and trainer Bede Murray.
Murray doesn't agree with the overall Australian rating of Coniston Bluebird and it has nothing to do with the cheque for $1.3 million he is currently walking around with.
"The Australians dropped off this horse because of one beaten performance," he said.
"The horse wasn't right that day and I'd always set him for this. He had an attitude problem so we gelded him before Christmas and he's a different horse now. I've always rated him a Derby horse. He's a lot better than some people think."
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The quote of the carnival week so far goes to Auckland Racing Club chief executive Chris Weaver.
The ARC board was astonished at the great financial result that emerged the day after Saturday's wind and rain carnage at Ellerslie.
Weaver was delighted as tote turnover spiralled way beyond expectations on Sunday.
"You know," he said at the end of a long day, "in my time here at Ellerslie this is the first time we've made a decision that hasn't been criticised.
"We haven't had one complaint about switching from Saturday to Sunday."
Then he thought for a moment.
"Well, that's not quite true - we've had complaints it's too hot in the marquees.
"Which is not bad, because yesterday you wouldn't have got the marquees open to get the people in."
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Australian punters were left fuming at Sky Channel's coverage of the NZ Derby after it ran a few minutes late.
Because of the packed programming of races on Sky in Australia the delay meant three races were replayed immediately after Ellerslie's feature. "Almost as soon as they went across the line in the Derby the announcer said "Coniston Bluebird is involved in a photo ... and that was it while they ran these three races," said one fired-up Australian bookmaker.
"They switched to some obscure race somewhere, Shitty Creek or something, and I swear it was seven minutes before we got the Derby result.
"Strike me, we couldn't get a result of a $2.2 million race."
But ARC director of racing Andrew Castles said he had some sympathy for Sky Channel in Australia.
"Their timetable is reasonably inflexible with such a busy schedule and they did well to accommodate the change of plans to race on Sunday."