History repeats in Oaks and Derby at Addington

By Michael Guerin

After plenty of up, downs and doubts we got the same Derby and Oaks winners at Addington on Friday as we did at Alexandra Park seven months ago.

But so much has changed and challenged both Marketplace and Arafura in between.

Remarkably the pair will end the season the winner of the two biggest classics, Marketplace in the Northern and now New Zealand Derby, with Arafura completing the Oaks double.

The similarities are almost eerie.

When Arafura won her first Oaks back at Alexandra Park on April 25 she was followed two races later by Marketplace. Exactly the same at tonight.

Both went to Addington last week for huge Cup week sprint assignments, both finished heartbreaking seconds, Arafura by a neck in the Nevele R Final, Marketplace by a half neck in The Velocity.

Both had stuggled to win this spring, Arafura one from five heading into the Oaks, Marketplace 0 from four for the spring heading into the Derby.

But that is what Oaks and Derbys do. 

There is no coincidence in harness racing history so many horses have won the classics multiple times.

It brings out the best.

There can be little doubt now Arafura is our best filly. Maybe not our fastest, but definitely our best stayer.

She proved that by grabbing Princess Gracy on the line on Friday after being down and out for much of this Oaks, her fitness honed by Hayden and Amanda Cullen and Mark Purdon with the typical no-panic drive to give him the Group 1 that eluded him last week.

It wouldn’t be Addington in November if Mark wasn’t driving a Group 1 but this time it wasn’t about him.

It was about the Cullens, who have built a fine and feared team in the last two years, proper trainers who started with little but now have a lot.

Arafura’s dual Oaks adds to the Derby the Cullens won with last season with We Walk By Faith and they are clearly now in our top echelon of trainers.

Hayden had a tear in his eye, showing just how much these Group 1 wins mean. 

He better buy some handkerchiefs because you get the feeling there is plenty more to come.

Regan Todd is a little more used to the Group 1s with Marketplace but this Garrard’s NZ Derby will still have meant the world.

Training very good horses comes with pressure, even more so when they get beaten, which Marketplace had been doing more than any of us expected leading into this Derby.

He has found a true rival in Got The Chocolates but this time that rival couldn’t sit outside him and beat him.

Maybe it was the extra distance covered having to try that over 2600m instead of the sprint trips.

Maybe it was the inch-perfect drive by Craig Ferguson, who kept Marketplace ticking over at just the right rate to tax his rival yet deter any challenges.

Todd was happy, relieved and gracious. 

“This is wonderful but the other horse has gone great again too,” he said, a horseman who loves watching great horses.

Their battles this spring have whetted our appetite for the future, suggesting maybe these two lovely three-year-olds may be able to claw back some of New Zealand’s pacing pride in the years ahead.

But that is the for the future.

On Friday night both Arafura and Marketplace turned the clock back seven months and grabbed their iconic doubles.

And probably earned themselves their respective three-year-old of the year titles in the process.