All Stars pacer Chase Auckland kicked his New Zealand Cup preparation back in to gear and showed off his staying prowess to win the Methven Cup yesterday.
The Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen-trained 5yr-old's New Zealand Cup hopes took a dive when he galloped in both of his previous pre-cup hit outs, but he quickly put those mistakes behind him with a faultless display to beat his stablemate Ashley Locaz and win the 3000m feature for driver Tim Williams.
Chase Auckland did not face an easy task when Purdon, driving Ashley Locaz, left Williams parked with almost a lap to go.
The Auckland Reactor pacer went on to grind out a gritty win on a slow rated and previously rain-affected Methven track by three-quarters of a length.
Several of the beaten runners produced excellent efforts after giving away a fitness edge to Chase Auckland, who went into the race with more spring starts than any of his rivals.
Ashley Locaz showed he was a genuine New Zealand Cup hope by producing a fighting second.
Smokin By produced a big effort in his first run of the season to nail Gran Chico on the line for third.
The testing condition of the Methven track was evident when Chase Auckland registered the slowest winning time for the race in the past decade when he stopped the clock at 4:01.8 - more than 10sec slower than Cruz Bromac's 3:51.3 effort last year.
