Is this the next racing superstar?

5-year-old New-Zealander Humidor showed huge potential last year, drawing attention with 4 consecutive places in group company during his Autumn campaign. Now trained by Darren Weir, the ex-kiwi exploded into the top-flight Australian racing scene at with a group 1 victory at Flemington in March, taking out the Australian Cup.

Coming from 10th at the 400m mark, Humidor came with his trademark run to be seen a number of times later that year, to get the better of 2016 Caulfield Cup winner Jameka and the very smart Exospheric. Edging out stable mate Stratum Star, The United States, 2017 Caulfield Cup winner Boom Time and serial runner up Tom Melbourne, Humidor boasted big claims to be the best in the business, that would later see him just miss racing royalty and bettering her track record from 2015 year in the process.

Finishing runner up to Jameka in the 2400m Group 1 BMW at Rosehill at the end of March, Humidor resumed in the spring, failing to place twice over 1400m prior to another brilliant showing in the Makybe Diva stakes where he claimed his 2nd Group 1 Victory. At a starting price of $17, Humidor again displayed a dazzling run from the rear of the field to put the very fancied Hartnell on the treadmill and win by 3.25 lengths.

In a remarkable display of what could be for the dual group 1 winner, his best run to date arguably came in the Cox Plate. After another group 1 placing in the Turnbull Stakes and finishing 5th in the Caulfield Cup, Humidor stalked Winx all the way to the finish line, and with his renowned burst of speed, missed by just 0.4L. In another record breaking run for Winx, her time of 2:02.94 bettered her own benchmark from 2015 (2:02.98), with Humidor just a fraction off her this time around.

Beating only 4 runners home in last years Melbourne Cup, the 3200m journey perhaps proved too far for the now 5-year-old, however statistics show the gelding is at his best between 1600 and 2100m. In fact, he has a quite freakish record over the trip. In 13 starts between 1600 and 2100m, he has been placed in 12 of them, winning 6. Bizarrely, he has never won over more then 2000m, yet going on the Cox Plate run, 2018 could see him go one better in group 1 races over these distances, with a chance to etch himself into the Winx and Redzel category of current superstardom and seemingly racing immortally.

Talking to the Daily Telegraph, trainer Darren Weir indicated Humidor may defend his Australian Cup title this year, stating both Humidor and Tosen Stardom will head to Sydney for the Autumn Carnival.

“He’s back in work,” Weir said. “I’m happy with him but he went out a bit tired and spent more time in the paddock to get over it. He’ll probably have a run in Melbourne in February and maybe I can get him to the Australian Cup, but we’ll see.”

Humidor has been placed in 15 out of 22 races to date with the dual group 1 winner accumulating near 2 and a half million dollars prize money. Should Winx head to Royal Ascot in favour of a 4th straight Cox Plate preparation, the door is ajar for the Kiwi to claim the middle distance crown at the end of the year.