Auckland Reactor's raceday debut was much anticipated, with efforts at the trials leading many people to label him a top horse in the making.
Connections ruled out a run in the New Zealand Trotting Cup, where he probably would have been favourite, because of his hampered lead-up and lack of standing start ability.
A planned clash against Australian champion Blacks A Fake in the Miracle Mile Pace in Sydney was aborted due to the length of time it would take for the horse to return to New Zealand with quarantine issues.
He managed to catch the field and get a position outside the leader, but he did not have enough energy left in the home straight to run past All Tiger, and his unbeaten record ended at 17.
In his first-round heat, he settled midfield before being pushed back to second-last when driver Mark Purdon elected not to move forward.
Mark Purdon admitted that he made an error by not moving forward in the race, and was subsequently handed a six-week driving suspension.
Following this defeat, Auckland Reactor drifted as favourite for the series, and the winner of the last three Inder Dominion Championships Blacks A Fake firmed with the bookies.
With Tony Herlihy in the sulky, Auckland Reactor won his second heat impressively and set up the 'trans-Tasman challenge' for the final on 28 March 2009.
Gavin Lang drove the horse in the final, after Tony Herlihy went back on a previous decision to relinquish the training of finalist Gotta Go Cullen in order to take the drive.
After getting into the parked position outside Blacks A Fake within the first lap, Auckland Reactor was never comfortable in the running, and dropped out to finish 100 metres behind the winner, Mr Feelgood, in last place.
After settling at the back of the field from his wide draw, he was unable to make sufficient ground off a fast-run race, and ended up finishing sixth behind New Zealand Cup winner Monkey King in an Australian record of 1:50.8.
He was set to contest the Inter Dominion series at Auckland starting 25 March, but was scratched after suffering an attack of Colitis X a few days prior.
He showed little sign of his previous standing start concerns, settling towards the back of the field and finished strongly to win by a head.
Here, he moved around the field to sit outside the leader with 1000 metres to go, before running clear in the straight to claim a convincing 21⁄2 length win, breaking his last-800-metre record with a 53.8-second time.
Resuming in Australia in January 2012, Auckland Reactor narrowly won the Pure Steel at Ballarat in track record time.
He finished a strong sixth first-up in the New Brighton Cup, but a disappointing eighth in the Canterbury Classic, after which another hoof injury was found.