Amazing Dream wins the Blacks A Fake in Brisbane. Photo / Supplied
The two pacing superstars who have capped a stunning Queensland carnival for New Zealand horses look set to be lost to racing here.
And the big winner from the decision to keep both Amazing Dream and American Dealer in Australia will be young trainer Nathan Purdon.
Purdon trained Amazing Dream to record another long-odds upset in the A$250,000 Blacks A Fake at Albion Park in Brisbane on Saturday night, just an hour after Auckland pony pacer American Dealer held off Krug in the A$100,000 Queensland Derby.
That capped a near total Kiwi domination of the revamped Queensland winter carnival during which they also won the $250,000 Rising Sun (Amazing Dream), Sunshine Sprint and Wondai's Mate (Copy That), South East Derby (American Dealer) and Redcliffe Derby (Krug).
Those results are even more remarkable because all four of those pacers, and Tommy Lincoln, who has won three support races, were beaten at the Harness Jewels a few weeks before heading to Australia, yet their connections made the bold decision to press on with the expensive trip.
Amazing Dream seems to have gained a new weapon in Australia, twice using previously unseen gate speed to secure the trail and that won her both the Rising Sun and Saturday's Blacks A Fake.
She blasted to the lead early as hot favourite King Of Swing raced erratically and soon after broke, completely changing the pattern of the race.
Copy That raced forward to get the lead off Amazing Dream and she used the passing lane to dash through at a scarcely believable $61 to hold off $151 chance Rockin Marty, with King Of Swing a brave third and Copy That slightly below his best in fourth.
The win was only the second ever in Australia for driver Blair Orange, who was having his first drive on Amazing Dream and thrusts the mighty mare into contention for the NZ Horse of the Year title after she won the Auckland Cup at home as well as beating the open-class male pacers on several occasions.
What will be interesting is what weight voters place on her defeats, as the princess of pacing has taken punters on a roller-coaster ride, being beaten in four major mares' races a Horse of the Year would be expected to win.
Another question will be whether Amazing Dream returns home to contest the New Zealand Cup in November or stays in Victoria with new trainer Nathan Purdon, son of former trainer Mark Purdon.
Amazing Dream was bought by United States-based owners Marc Hanover and Gordon Banks a few months ago and they indicated yesterday they were not keen to take her to North America any time soon, so she looks set to stay in this part of the world.
But races such as the Victoria Derby, Inter Dominions and Breeders Crown could trump an Addington trip.
Incredibly, Banks and Hanover also own American Dealer, trained by Ray Green at Pukekohe, so for two men on the other side of the world, they achieved an unbelievable Group 1 double in the space of an hour.
American Dealer surged to the lead in the middle stages of the Derby and outstayed Krug, who sat parked and faded to third.
American Dealer will head to New South Wales to join Tiger Tara's former trainer Kevin Pizzuto this week but is likely to join Nathan towards the end of the year for the Victoria Derby and Breeders Crown.
There are often doubts over whether tiny age-group horses like him can go on to match it in open class later in life but American Dealer's time for the 2680m on Saturday was only a second slower than Amazing Dream and he worked harder so he may eventually measure up. It is just unlikely that will be back on these shores.