The Maxfield Drilling Group 2 $50,000 Raider Stakes was as good as over 100 metres after the start as Todd Rattray steered his star four-year-old Izaha to the early lead in the 2665-metre Sires Series final in Devonport on Sunday night.
Izaha found the top with ridiculous ease in the run to the first turn and then set about adding to his Globe Derby success from last year with a seemingly effortless 5 1/2-metre victory from a game Peaceful Thomas, recording a mile rate of 2:01.2.
"He went super tonight, everything has just fallen into place perfectly, his lead up races and his work at home had him cherry ripe for the final, he didn't overexert himself in the run and we had a little more up the sleeve if challenged late," said Todd.
"I was confident once we found the top early, he is a very smart horse so it was going to take an outstanding run from one of his rivals to take him down, Peaceful Thomas performed well and stuck on gamely as I expected he would."
The Roll With Joe - Our Zellweger star is a half brother to champion pacer Harjeet which also won the Globe Derby and Raider Stakes finals.
"I rate him just behind Harjeet at the moment, Izaha's performances again this season have been top class winning seven of 11 starts and he has taken his career earnings to $125,000 having won 13 of his 21 career outings," said Rattray.
"I'm looking forward to him taking on the big boys when his chance comes, if he can match it with them I'm more than happy to re-assess where he sits in the pecking order."
Rattray is currently undecided on what the immediate future holds for Izaha with a trip to the mainland one of the options on the table.
"He's pulled up well from the run so once I have Harjeet fully fit for another campaign I would certainly consider taking them both on a trip north," said Todd.
"That's a month or two away though if it eventuates at all so in the meantime we may well just pick out a race here and there for him and keep him ticking over."
