The richest race in New Zealand is a Listed event for juveniles and open only to yearlings sold at Karaka. The Karaka Million (1200m) is more often that not an on pacer race and decided by barrier draws, as was the case today. Xiong Feng remained unbeaten to win from the ace after leading and held on to score by a neck in 1:09.68. He has won in both directions and on good, dead and slow footing plus shows tactical speed so is already displaying versatility. The maiden filly Showmeyamoneyhoney from gate three got a soft run the outer and closed gamely the final stages to get second money. Kingsman ran home strongly for third after settling tenth the fence and he should appreciate the extra 200m of the Sires Produce (1400m) at Awapuni on April 2 but before that should tackle the G1 Diamond Stakes (1200m) here on March 12. Caorunn fought well for fourth after trailing but could not use his good draw of four properly early when knuckling. He recovered to trail after 200m and was beaten a just a length at the line. What Choux Want ran an honest fifth after being crowded then blundering to end up last early before recovering the fence to midfield after 400m. The filly kept scraping paint to be fifth turning for home and reached third at the 200m before wilting a tad. The eyecatcher from the race and a likely winner of either or both the G1 Diamond Stakes here at 1200m and G1 Sires Produce at Awapuni over 1400m is the big gelding Sacred Elixir. He was crowded early and ended up second last on settling but nothing else was finishing as potently as he over the closing stages. No surprise if he ends up the best horse out of this race as can only learn to handle his big frame and stride better the stronger and smarter on raceday he gets. O’Reilly Cyrus fought on okay and the filly from Queensland is also still filling out her decent frame plus being surrounded in the running did not help her chances as she likes clear air. Tennessee was wide and working all the way so to box on and be beaten less than four lengths when deadheating for eighth was more meritorious than it seems and she is a stablemate of the winner. Glass Slipper ran on well wide from last to deadheat for eighth but had some lameness issues after the race. Manolo Blahniq was the hot favourite and after sharing the pace outside the eventual winning leader was a spent force at the 150m and dropped away. He has the stride and action of a wet tracker and is bred to need cut or more testing footing to let go properly in the running. Nova Swiss was wide handy for most of the race and the effort told while a well-backed The Soultaker did not bring it on at any stage being back and wide throughout. It is hard to knock an unbeaten juvenile that has tactical speed and goes on most types of footing plus either direction so when Xiong Feng displayed tenacious fight today it added another string too his bow. There looks to be more depth than usual to come out of the race this year as being open only to Karaka sold yearlings it does have a limited base. The Listed status of the race will struggle to be upgraded much if at all as once again it is open only to one sale yard, so the best youngster in New Zealand may not be ever seen in this race. Kingsman has good scope for the rest of this season and certainly when a 3yo. The one from the race however that was absolutely unmissable the closing stages is Sacred Elixir, which was bred by Graham De Gruchy. He bred the champion mare Horlicks, which is also the third dam of Sacred Elixir that has Group winner written all over him at this stage. The winning time was a fraction faster than the impressive 3yo winner one race prior in Koenigsegg One, which has a big future, so that augurs well for the field depth and as a future form source.