A common comment in the last twelve months amongst harness racing breeders down under was the disappointment with the performance of Somebeachsomewhere since he arrived on the scene.

Now within the space of two months the leading North American sire is starting to really fire down under with first Menin Gate winning the Victorian Derby and now Waikiki Beach is creating an enormous impression in the two year old ranks in New Zealand.

Brought out of the APG sale last year, Waikiki Beach lined up tonight at Addington Raceway, Christchurch in the $40,000 Group 2 New Zealand Welcome Stakes and the public sent him out a warm favourite.

Motu Premier flew the gate early frrom barrier seven and grabbed an early lead from Waikiki Beach who settled into the trail.

After 400 metres Chase The Dream started to work forward to the death but before he got there, Mark Purdon hooked Waikiki Beach out of the trail and took him to the lead.

Chase The Dream sat on his wheel but applied little pressure and when Mark pressed the go button on the corner, Waikiki Beach shot clear for an easy victory.

Motu Premier went his usual honest race for second while Chase The Dream fought on well for third.

The unlucky runner was Arden's Choice who looked sure to run second until she had a gallop at the 150 metres mark.

Waikiki Beach paced the 1950 metres in 2:25.7, a mile rate of 2:00.2 with closing sectionals of 57.6 and 27.1.

Mark Purdon was pretty confident once he found the front.

" I was really impressed with him last week at the trials when I tried him in front."

" Once I got there tonight he relaxed really well and I was pretty confident once I wasn't taken on."

" He is off to the APG series in Australia and will be very competitive," Mark said.

Tim Williams was happy with the run of Motu Premier.

" I had to use him early but he got a really good run after that.

" The tempo didn't suit him at all as he would prefer the speed on all the way," Tim said.

Natalie Rasmussen thought Chase The Dream hadn't helped himself.

" He went a bit rough on the last bend which cost him a lot of momentum."

" But for that I think he would have run second."

" Overall I'm happy with run," Natalie said.

Matt Anderson was at a loss to explain why Arden's Choice broke with 150 metres to go.

" She broke out of the gate the other night at Alexandra Park and tonight near the finish."

" It was really disappointing as she was going to run second," Matt said. 

Somebeachsomewhere is really stepping up to the plate now and the knockers are pretty quiet these days.

Harnesslink Media