Orange grabs Oaks/Derby Group 1 double

By Michael Guerin

Two very different pieces of Blair Orange magic landed him the New Zealand Trotting Oaks and Derby at Addington on Friday night.

And both with fillies who downed hot favourites to grab their Group 1s.

First up it was Dash Dosh who gave trainer Tom Bagrie the biggest win of his career when she stunned Addington by running past $1.25 favourite Tracy The Jet in the $140,000 Woodlands Stud Trotting Oaks.

It was billed as a race in two between Tracy The Jet and Ya Rite Darl and that aided Dash Dosh because the two favourites raced hard for the lead early, Tracy The Jet won that but Ya Rite Darl galloped and while all of that was going on Orange somehow ended up in the trail.

Even then she wasn’t expected to run past the Aussie favourite but she beat her fair and square, albeit Tracy The Jet was clearly softened up by the early burn.

But Dash Dosh still had to be super fast up the passing lane and suggest she has the speed to take her all the way to open class for Bagrie, who is also her majority owner.

“Maybe missing a spot in The Ascent helped because she goes so well fresh,” says Bagrie.

“It is such a buzz to win this with some great owners and friends and we actually ended up buying her, after originally leasing her, because she was pretty close to being sold and we wanted to keep her in the stable.

“Once we did that this race was her main aim all along so to achieve that goal means a lot.”

Bagrie and his partners now have a very nice mare to start 2026 with but Dash Dosh is going to have some smart four-year-old mares to keep her company including Habibti Pat who came from last to win the Garrards Trotting Derby for Orange.

The pair stayed out of the fireworks as there were lead battles, gallopers and then a surge from favourite Meant To Be before Habibti Pat erased memories of a luckless last month to give the Hope family who train her another huge trotting winner.

Nobody has ever doubted her class and Habibti Pat’s battle for three-year-old trotting filly of the year with Tracy The Jet, Dash Dosh and Ya Rite Darl will have voters scratching their heads.

She completed a run of three straight years fillies have won the Trotting Derby and that suggests she can step into open grade in a year or so when her mighty stablemate Muscle Mountain is retired.

On a night of wonderful performances to cap a magical fortnight Kingman’s victory in the Group 1 Christian Cullen was almost workmanlike compared with the drama of his New Zealand Cup win.

Trainer-driver Luke McCarthy was nonchalant early, moved at the right time and got the lead all but guaranteeing his win.

He will be welcomed back with open arms whether it be for the $1m slot race at Cambridge on April 10 or the NZ Cup next year.