This Prestige Hurdle over 3350m drew a small and disappointing field and was held on an absolute bog of an Ellerslie track that had the rail out vast amounts too. The margins were massive across the line of the five of six runners that finished and ranged from seven lengths to over thirty-five lengths. Fittingly the winner of this and very easily was Raisafuasho trained by Ann Brown, whose late husband Ken and icon of the jumping sport this race is named after. The rising 10yo settled down last on his own then made a run across the top and swept into the lead before the home turn top swim clear and score by seven lengths in 4:22.17. It was his eighth win in fifty-one starts and four of those have now come as a hurdler. The fact he was second up means there is a lot more to come this Winter and he has all of these covered at the longer trips as a jumper. Ready Eddie and Yardstick whacked away for second and third after racing handy most of the way. Yadarm was a tad disappointing fourth after moving into contention across the top. Thenamesbond led as expect but stopped like a pricked balloon once headed across the top and he is known to run some absolute shockers. Ngatira Gold was gone 1000m from home and pulled up, with this rising 7yo having a poor recovery rate post race so something is not right. This was a poor field and Raisafuasho has these covered even if a rising 10yo as he can actually stay and sustain a long run. Raisafuasho was subsequently disqualified when testing positive for Sotalol and all the other runners move up one spot.