Gabriel Batistuta International career
Where did he start outside of his home country?
Where did Gabriel Batistuta start outside of his home country?
In 1991, Batistuta was selected to play for Argentina in the Copa America held in Chile, where he finished the tournament as top scorer with six goals as Argentina romped to victory. The following year, he won the FIFA Confederations Cup with Argentina, finishing as the tournament's top-scorer. In 1993, Batistuta played in his second Copa America, this time held in Ecuador, which Argentina won with Batistuta scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Mexico in the final.  The 1994 World Cup, held in the United States, was a disappointment. After a promising start Argentina were beaten by Romania in the last 16. The morale of the team was seriously affected by Diego Maradona's doping suspension. Despite the disappointing Argentine exit, Batistuta scored four goals in as many games, including a hat-trick in their opening game against Greece.  During the qualification matches for the 1998 World Cup (with former River Plate manager Daniel Passarella) Batistuta was left out of the majority of the games after falling out with the coach over team rules. The two eventually put the dispute aside and Batistuta was recalled for the tournament. In the game against Jamaica, he recorded the second hat-trick of his World Cup career, becoming the fourth player to achieve this (the others were Sandor Kocsis, Just Fontaine, and Gerd Muller) and the first to score a hat-trick in two World Cups. Argentina were knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands courtesy of a last minute Dennis Bergkamp winner after the two sides had held out for a 1-1 draw for almost the entire match.  After a good series of performances by Argentina in the qualification matches for the 2002 World Cup, hopes were high that the South Americans - now managed by Marcelo Bielsa - could win the trophy, and Batistuta announced that he planned to quit the national team at the end of the tournament, which Argentina aimed to win. But Argentina's "group of death" saw the team fall at the first hurdle, only managing a victory against Nigeria (Batistuta scored the match's only goal). They later fell to England 1-0 and managed a mere 1-1 tie against Sweden. This meant that the team was knocked out in the opening round for the first time since 1962. CANNOTANSWER
Batistuta was selected to play for Argentina in the Copa America held in Chile,
Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for Angel Gabriel). Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time, noted in particular for powerful strikes from volleys or from distance while on the run, in 1999, Batistuta placed third for the FIFA World Player of the Year award. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

After beginning his career in Argentina in 1988 with Newell's Old Boys, followed by River Plate and Boca Juniors where he won titles, the prolific striker played most of his club football with Serie A club Fiorentina in Italy; he is their all-time top scorer in Serie A with 151 goals. When Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped them return to the top-flight league a year later. He became an icon in Florence; the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for the club. Despite winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana with the club in 1996, he never won the Serie A title with Fiorentina, but when he moved to Roma in 2000 for €36 million – the highest fee ever paid for a player over the age of 30 until Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018– he won the 2000–01 Serie A title. After a brief loan spell with Inter Milan in 2003, he played his last two seasons in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.

At international level, Batistuta was Argentina's all-time leading goalscorer with 54 goals in 77 official matches, a record he held until 21 June 2016, when he was surpassed by Lionel Messi. He participated in three FIFA World Cups, scoring 10 goals, making him Argentina's all-time top scorer in the competition, and the joint eighth-highest World Cup goalscorer of all time. Batistuta is the only player in football history to score two hat-tricks in different World Cups. With the Argentina national team he won two consecutive Copa América titles (1991 and 1993), the 1993 Artemio Franchi Trophy, and the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Early and personal life 
Batistuta was born on 1 February 1969 to slaughterhouse worker Omar Batistuta and school secretary Gloria Zilli, in the town of Avellaneda, , but grew up in the nearby city of Reconquista. He has three younger sisters, Elisa, Alejandra, and Gabriela. Batistuta is a Roman Catholic. At the age of 16, he met Irina Fernández, his future wife, at her quinceañera, a rite of passage on her 15th birthday. On 28 December 1990, they were married at Saint Roque Church.

The couple moved to Florence, Italy, in 1991, and a year later their first son, Thiago, was born. Thanks to good performances in the Italian championship and with the Argentina national team, Batistuta gained fame and respect. He filmed several commercials and was invited onto numerous TV shows, but in spite of this, Batistuta always remained a low-profile family man. In 1997, Batistuta's second son, Lucas, was born, and a third son, Joaquín, followed in 1999. He now has a fourth son Shamel. In 2000, Batistuta and his family moved to Rome, where he played for Roma. Two years after Shamel was born, Batistuta was loaned to Inter. In 2003, after 12 years in Italy, the family moved to Qatar where Batistuta had accepted a lucrative celebrity playing contract with a local team, Al-Arabi, ending his career there in 2005. He moved back to Argentina in 2007.

Despite having completed his coaching badges in Argentina, he currently has no involvement with football, instead (primarily as he has difficulty walking) he prefers to play polo and golf, he was quoted saying 'I don't like football, it's only my job'. In later interviews with FIFA he expanded, “I lived and breathed football”, adding, “when I was playing football I never enjoyed it that much, I was never happy ... if I scored two goals, I wanted a third, I always wanted more. Now it's all over I can look back with satisfaction, but I never felt that way when I was playing.” In 2006 he expressed an interest in coaching Australia's national team and Argentina's team. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup he worked as a commentator for Televisa Deportes. Batistuta currently runs his own construction company in Argentina. He also worked as technical secretary in the professional football club Colón, joining the club's staff in January 2012, and leaving at the end of the 2012–13 season.

Speaking in a television interview in Argentina in 2014, Batistuta said the pain suffered in his ankles after retiring in 2005 became so intense that he "urinated in bed with the toilet only a few steps away. I couldn't move." He visited a doctor he knew asking his legs be amputated, but the doctor turned down his request. Although he later underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on his cartilage and tendons, and his condition improved slightly, in a 2017 interview he stated that he still had difficulty walking and faced mobility issues as a result of the stresses and injuries he faced throughout his football career due to overexerting himself. He has however still been able to take part in charity football games, and in 2014 he scored twice – one a trademark finish with a powerful 35 yard strike into the roof of the net – in a game in Italy.

Batistuta currently lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Club career

Early career 

As a child, Batistuta preferred other sports to football. Because of his height he played basketball, but after Argentina's victory in the 1978 FIFA World Cup, in which he was particularly impressed by the skills of Mario Kempes, he devoted himself to football. After playing with friends on the streets and in the small Grupo Alegria club, Batistuta joined the local Platense junior team. While with Platense he was selected for the Reconquista team that won the provincial championship following victory over Newell's Old Boys. Batistuta's two goals drew the attention of the opposition team’s coach Marcelo Bielsa, and he signed a professional contract with Newell’s in 1988.

Newell's Old Boys 
At Newell's Old Boys under Bielsa, who would later become Batistuta's national coach with the Argentina national team, things did not come easily for him during his first year with the club. He was away from home, his family, and his girlfriend Irina, sleeping in a room at the stadium, and had a weight problem that slowed his progress. At the end of that year, Batistuta was loaned to a smaller team, Deportivo Italiano, with whom he participated in the Carnevale Cup in Italy, ending as top scorer with three goals. Under the guidance of Bielsa, whom Batistuta described in his autobiography as the most important coach he has ever had, and “the one who taught me how to train on rainy days, he taught me everything”, he was physically transformed, fed encouragement, and was set on the path into the player he was to become.

River Plate 
In mid-1989, Batistuta made the leap to one of Argentina's biggest clubs, River Plate, where he scored 17 goals. He was drawn out of the team by the new manager Daniel Passarella in the mid-season, apparently with no specific reason. According to Batistuta, they never had a dispute. Passarella declared at that time "when Batistuta finds a team that be able to play to him he will be lethal" and highlighted his professionalism.

Boca Juniors 

In 1990, Batistuta joined River Plate's arch rivals, Boca Juniors. He initially found it hard to find his best form, in part not playing in his position. However, at the beginning of 1991, Óscar Tabárez became Boca Juniors' new manager and he gave Batistuta the support and put him into his best place in the field, the centre of attack, rather than as an outside forward. Batistuta finished the season as the league's top scorer as Boca Juniors won the championship.

Fiorentina 
While playing for Argentina in the 1991 Copa América, the vice-president of Fiorentina was impressed by Batistuta's skills and signed him. He had a fine start in Serie A, scoring 13 goals in his debut season. However, the following season, in 1992–93, Fiorentina lost in the relegation battle and were demoted to Serie B, despite Batistuta's 16 league goals. The club returned to Serie A after one season in Serie B, with the contribution of 16 goals from Batistuta and the management of Claudio Ranieri, as Fiorentina captured the 1993–94 Serie B title.

At Fiorentina, Batistuta found his best form. He was the top scorer of the 1994–95 Serie A season with 26 goals, and he broke Ezio Pascutti's 32-year-old record by scoring in all of the first 11 matches of the season. In the 1995–96 season, Batistuta, alongside Rui Costa and Francesco Baiano, helped the club to go on a 15-match unbeaten run, as they eventually ended the season with a fourth-place league finish. Fiorentina also won the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana over A.C. Milan; in the two-legged Coppa Italia final against Atalanta, Batistuta scored a goal in each fixture as Fiorentina won 3–0 on aggregate. The next season was less successful, as Fiorentina finished in a disappointing ninth place in the league, although the team managed to reach the semi-finals of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, losing out to eventual champions Barcelona, despite scoring a goal in a 1–1 away draw in the first leg. Scoring over 20 league goals in each of the next three seasons – made all the more impressive given Serie A was the strongest league in the world and the hardest to score in with the best defences – as well as spectacular powerful strikes against Arsenal and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League, Batistuta came third for FIFA World Player of the Year in 1999. Batistuta and Ronaldo were the two best strikers in Serie A, with their duels the most anticipated in Italy.

After his failure to win the Italian championship with Fiorentina, Batistuta started considering a transfer to a bigger team. In an effort to keep Batistuta, Fiorentina hired Giovanni Trapattoni as coach and promised to do everything to win the Scudetto. After an excellent start to the season, Batistuta suffered an injury that kept him out of action for more than a month. Losing momentum, Fiorentina lost the lead and finished the season in third place, although the result enabled them to participate in the Champions League the following season.

In addition to the fans erecting a life-size bronze statue of him in Florence, Bastituta was inducted into the club’s hall of fame in 2014. An emotional Batistuta told the audience at the ceremony: “From the moment I arrived at Fiorentina I wanted a place in the history of the club – and now I can say I have succeeded.”

Roma 

Batistuta stayed at Fiorentina for the 1999–2000 season, tempted by the chance of winning both the Scudetto and the Champions League. After a promising start in both competitions, the team only reached seventh in the league and were eliminated in the second round group phase of the European tournament. The following season, he was transferred to Roma in a deal worth 70 billion lire (€36.2 million) and signed a three-year contract, which earned 14.8 billion Italian lire (€7.6 million) per year before tax. The fee paid for Batistuta became the highest fee ever paid for a player over the age of 30. The record was broken in 2017 when Leonardo Bonucci was signed by A.C. Milan on a five-year contract for a €42 million fee.

During the 2000–01 season, Batistuta finally garnered a Serie A winners' medal, scoring 20 league goals, as Roma clinched the Scudetto for the first time since 1983, including a goal in the 3–1 title-deciding victory over Parma on 17 June 2001 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. On 26 November 2000 Batistuta scored an 83rd-minute winner with a right-foot volley from 30 yards in a league game against Fiorentina in Rome – visibly upset having done so he refused to celebrate with his Roma teammates. Before the match he ran over to the 3,000 Fiorentina fans and saluted them, and did the same at full time, receiving adoration in return, before he left the stadium in tears. Sean Ingle, match reporter for The Guardian, wrote, “Batistuta breaks Florentine hearts, and his own.” The following season with Roma, he changed his shirt number from 18 to 20 in reference to the number of goals he had scored during the Scudetto winning campaign. He also wore his age on the back of his Roma shirt in 2002, number 33.

Loan to Inter Milan 
Now aged 34, Batistuta failed to find form with Roma and was loaned out to Inter Milan, scoring two goals in twelve matches, although he did provide assists for Christian Vieri. Batistuta sought a move to England to play with Fulham, but the deal never transpired.

Al-Arabi 
He departed Italy for Qatar in 2003, joining Al-Arabi on a free transfer in a deal worth $8 million. Batistuta ended the season by netting 25 goals, thus surpassing the record for most goals scored, which was previously held by Qatari legend Mansour Muftah. Batistuta announced his retirement in 2005.

International career 

In 1991, Batistuta was selected to play for Argentina in the Copa América held in Chile, where he finished the tournament as top scorer with six goals as Argentina romped to victory. The following year, he won the FIFA Confederations Cup with Argentina, finishing as the tournament's top-scorer. In 1993, Batistuta played in his second Copa América, this time held in Ecuador, which Argentina won with Batistuta scoring both goals in a 2–1 win over Mexico in the final.

The 1994 World Cup, held in the United States, was a disappointment. After a promising start Argentina were beaten by Romania in the last 16. The morale of the team was seriously affected by Diego Maradona's doping suspension. Despite the disappointing Argentine exit, Batistuta scored four goals in as many games, including a hat-trick in their opening game against Greece.

During the qualification matches for the 1998 World Cup (with former River Plate manager Daniel Passarella) Batistuta was left out of the majority of the games after falling out with the coach over team rules. The two eventually put the dispute aside and Batistuta was recalled for the tournament. In the game against Jamaica, he recorded the second hat-trick of his World Cup career, becoming the fourth player to achieve this (the others were Sándor Kocsis, Just Fontaine, and Gerd Müller) and the first to score a hat-trick in two World Cups. Argentina were knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands courtesy of a last minute Dennis Bergkamp winner after the two sides had held out for a 1–1 draw for almost the entire match.

After a good series of performances by Argentina in the qualification matches for the 2002 World Cup, hopes were high that the South Americans – now managed by Marcelo Bielsa – could win the trophy, and Batistuta announced that he planned to quit the national team at the end of the tournament, which Argentina aimed to win. But Argentina's "group of death" saw the team fall at the first hurdle, only managing a victory against Nigeria (Batistuta scored the match's only goal). They later fell to England 1–0 and managed a mere 1–1 tie against Sweden. This meant that the team was knocked out in the opening round for the first time since 1962. With 54 goals from 77 games, Batistuta was the record goalscorer for Argentina, a record he held until it was surpassed by Lionel Messi in 2016. Batistuta admitted he was a little annoyed at losing the record, stating, “You go around the world and people say, 'he's the top scorer for the Argentina national team’, before he then added, “But the advantage I have is that I'm second to an extraterrestrial."

Style of play 

A quick, hard-working, and powerful player, with an eye for goal and a good all-round game, Batistuta is considered one of the most complete, feared and prolific striker of his generation. As a striker, he was primarily known for his technique, offensive movement off the ball, strength in the air, and powerful, clinical finishing ability with both feet from anywhere on the pitch, despite being naturally right-footed.

Batistuta also possessed an excellent positional sense, as well as an ability to anticipate defenders in the area, score acrobatic goals from volleys or bicycle kicks, and strike the ball first time from tight angles while on the run. He was also highly regarded due to his accurate heading and powerful free-kick taking abilities; although he was a competent penalty taker, his conversion rate from the spot throughout his career was less reliable, however. In addition to his skill and goalscoring abilities, Batistuta frequently stood out on the pitch throughout his career due to his leadership and fair-play. Diego Maradona stated that Batistuta is the best striker he has ever seen play the game. Batistuta’s goal celebration – both arms upturned with his fists clenched – features in his statue placed next to those of Maradona and Messi in an emblematic square in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires. Batistuta also often celebrated a goal by pretending he was firing a machine gun. Batistuta suffered several injuries throughout his career, which often limited his playing time and fitness, in particular in his later career, which would eventually force him to retire.

Filmography

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours 
River Plate
 Argentine Primera División: 1989–90

Boca Juniors
 Torneo Clausura: 1991

Fiorentina
 Serie B: 1993–94
 Coppa Italia: 1995–96
 Supercoppa Italiana: 1996

Roma
 Serie A: 2000–01
 Supercoppa Italiana: 2001

Argentina
 Copa América: 1991, 1993
 FIFA Confederations Cup: 1992
 Artemio Franchi Trophy: 1993

Individual
 Copa América Golden Boot: 1991, 1995
 FIFA Confederations Cup top scorer: 1992
 Serie A top scorer: 1994–95
 Coppa Italia Top Scorer: 1995–96
 FIFA XI: 1997, 1998
 FIFA World Cup Silver Shoe: 1998
 Argentine Player of the Year: 1998
 ESM Team of the Year: 1998–1999
 Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 1999
 FIFA World Player of the Year: Bronze Award 1999
Ballon d'Or: 1998 (6th place), 1999 (4th place), 2000 (7th place)
 FIFA 100
 Qatari League top Scorer: 2003–04
 Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2013
 ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame: 2014
 A.S. Roma Hall of Fame: 2015
 AFA Team of All Time (published 2015)
 Fiorentina All-time XI
 Fiorentina All-time top scorer in Serie A

See also 

List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals

Notes

References

Further reading

External links 

  
 International statistics at rsssf
 
  Midfield Dynamo's 10 Heroes of the Copa América Batistuta listed in the top 10
 Gabriel Batistuta– Photo profile
  

1969 births
Living people
People from Reconquista, Santa Fe
Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province
Argentine people of Basque descent
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine Roman Catholics
Argentine footballers
Association football forwards
Newell's Old Boys footballers
Boca Juniors footballers
Club Atlético River Plate footballers
ACF Fiorentina players
A.S. Roma players
Inter Milan players
Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players
Argentine Primera División players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Qatar Stars League players
Argentina international footballers
1991 Copa América players
1992 King Fahd Cup players
1993 Copa América players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1995 King Fahd Cup players
1995 Copa América players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
Copa América-winning players
FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players
FIFA 100
Argentine expatriate footballers
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Qatar
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Qatar
Argentine male actors
Auckland Reactor is a New Zealand standardbred racehorse bred by Dr. Tony & Anne Parker. He was crowned New Zealand Horse of the Year in two seasons. He was also given the nickname The Reactor Factor because most Trainers supposedly feared him.

3-year-old season (2007–2008)

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. He won his debut at Timaru in September 2007. Three more wins followed before he won his first Group One race; the Sires Stakes 3-Year-Old Championship in November, where he came from an outside barrier draw to win easily. He returned to racing in January 2008 with a win. Another two wins in March preceded convincing wins in the Flying Stakes and the New Zealand Derby. In what was to be his final start for the season, he won the Southern Supremacy Stakes, where he recorded the fastest last 800m of a race ever in New Zealand of 54.0 seconds. This completed an undefeated 11-start season which saw him crowned New Zealand Horse of the Year.

In early May 2008, Auckland Reactor was purchased by an American syndicate for a reported $3.5 million, an unprecedented sum for a New Zealand pacer. Despite the sale, he remained with his original trainers, Mark Purdon and Grant Payne. His final race as a 3-year-old was set to be the 3-Year-Old Emerald, at the Harness Jewels raceday at Cambridge at the end of May. However, he had to be scratched from that race with an injury concern. That injury was expected to rule him out for the rest of 2008, including the New Zealand Trotting Cup in November.

4-year-old season (2008–2009)

Auckland Reactor recovered from the injury better than expected, and returned to racing with a win at Ashburton in late October. 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. Instead, he won the Junior Free-For-All on the Cup undercard, before meeting many Cup starters, including the winner Changeover, in the New Zealand Free-For-All. In the biggest test of his career, he won the Free-For-All in record time, confirming his status as clearly New Zealand's best pacer. 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. Instead, the horse contested the Franklin Cup at Alexandra Park in Auckland, where he broke the track record for 3200m. His first start for 2009 was in the Waikato Flying Mile at Cambridge, which he won in a time of 1.53.5, equalling the New Zealand record. He returned to Cambridge the following week to win the Cambridge 4yo Classic, taking his record to 17 wins from as many starts.

Auckland Reactor returned to Cambridge for a third straight week to contest the 4yo Futurity Stakes from a standing start. His poor standing start manners proved to be costly. He galloped for approximately the first 100 metres from the race and was tailed off the rest of the field. 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. The time of the race (0.8 seconds outside the track record) showed how good Auckland Reactor had to be to get as close to winning as he did.

Auckland Reactor came back to winning form straight away in the inaugural Summer Cup at Addington on 31 January, and followed that up with a win in a minor free-for-all at Addington. He then contested the Auckland Cup, where he drew the outside barrier. After dropping to last at the start, he took the lead a lap from home and went on to win by 1 lengths, giving him his biggest win to date and taking his earnings past $1 million.

2009 Inter Dominion Championships
One week after his Auckland Cup win, Auckland Reactor travelled to the Gold Coast in Australia to contest the Inter Dominion. In his first-round heat, he settled midfield before being pushed back to second-last when driver Mark Purdon elected not to move forward. He made good ground in the straight, but was too far back to run down Karloo Mick and avoid his second career defeat. 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. With Blacks A Fake being beaten later in the night by Changeover, Auckland Reactor regained favouritism for the final; however, the gap between the two lessened when Auckland Reactor drew the outside of the second row, while Blacks A Fake drew the inside of the front row. 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. The failure was mainly a result of the horse striking the sulky in the running, upsetting him and causing him to choke down.

4-year-old features
Auckland Reactor's final targets for the season were the major 4-year-old races in New Zealand. He won the first of those races, the Noel J Taylor Memorial Mile at Alexandra Park on 24 April, putting his unsuccessful Australian campaign behind him. He followed that win up with a victory in the New Zealand Messenger Championship at Alexandra Park; however, he was tiring over the final stages and his winning margin closed to a neck. His final target for the season was the 4-Year-Old Emerald at the Harness Jewels raceday at Ashburton where he was looking to make up for missing the 3-year-old version of the race. After getting an easy lead, he sprinted home in an outstanding last 400m time of 25.4 seconds to win by 3 lengths. His time for the mile distance of 1:53.8 was just outside his New Zealand record; however, that record was bettered in two races on Harness Jewels day.

Awards
Auckland Reactor won his second New Zealand Harness Horse of the Year award for his 2008/2009 achievements, as well as the 4-Year-Old Pacer and overall Pacer awards.

5-year-old season (2009–2010)

New Zealand Cup campaign
Auckland Reactor's first target as a 5-year-old was to be the New Zealand Trotting Cup on 10 November. His first race in the lead-up to the Cup was at Addington on 2 October, where he again missed away from the standing start. The lost ground at the start meant he tired to finish sixth after challenging for the lead around the final turn. His standing start manners did not improve in subsequent workouts, and the connections chose to abort his Cup campaign.

Cup Week
Auckland Reactor again won the Junior Free-For-All on the Cup undercard. Like in 2008, he contested the New Zealand Free-For-All on the following Friday, where he ran fifth of six runners after being taken on in the lead.

Miracle Mile Pace
After the New Zealand Free-For-All, Auckland Reactor was sent to Australia for the Miracle Mile Pace at Menangle. 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.

North American Campaign
Auckland Reactor flew out to North America at the end of January 2010, and was sent to the stable of Kelvin Harrison. His first-up race, at the Meadowlands on 22 May, ended in a disappointing 6th of 7, although the overall time was a fast 1:47.3. He improved at his second start when running fourth at Chester; however, his next start resulted in a last placing in a weaker grade at the same track, with trainer Harrison saying that the horse has not handled the hot weather in the US. Also, there is evidence to suggest that he was flipping his soft palate, thereby cutting his airway – a problem which had affected him during his 2009 campaign. It was eventually decided to return the horse to Mark Purdon and Grant Payne in New Zealand for another campaign.

6-year-old season (2010/2011)
Plans to stand Auckland Reactor at stud for the 2010 season were abandoned after some ownership changes and a willingness to focus on a return to racing. He returned to racing on 12 February at Ashburton, winning in a time of 1:52.9 for the mile (0.8 seconds outside the New Zealand record). However, he finished at the back of the field in his next two starts, including the Auckland Cup, after failing to settle in the running. 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.

7-year-old season (2011/2012)
Auckland Reactor returned as a 7-year-old on 30 September in the Avon City Ford Cup. 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. This was followed by a fast-finishing run for fifth in the Canterbury Classic. He then contested the Ashburton Flying Stakes; the main lead-up race to the New Zealand Cup. 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 2 length win, breaking his last-800-metre record with a 53.8-second time. The performance made him one of the favourites for the New Zealand Cup; however, a hoof injury forced him to be scratched from that race.

Resuming in Australia in January 2012, Auckland Reactor narrowly won the Pure Steel at Ballarat in track record time. This was followed by a close second off a 10m handicap in the A G Hunter Cup.

2012 Inter Dominion Series
Auckland Reactor was flown to Perth after the Hunter Cup to contest the Inter Dominion series. He contested the first heat of the series on 17 February, which resulted in a 2-metre victory. He followed that with comfortable victories in the second and third heats, which saw him start among the favourites in the Final. In the Final, he dropped back from the outside draw and moved around to sit outside the leader around the halfway mark, before fading in the straight to finish seventh. He was later found to be suffering from a virus, and did not race again that season.

8-year-old season (2012/2013)
Auckland Reactor started his preparation for the 2012 New Zealand Cup with two starts at Addington, galloping at the start both times. 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. He recovered to start in the Louisson Handicap at Addington, but interference at the start contributed to him galloping again, with the horse eventually moving to the lead before tiring to run last. Despite these setbacks, he finally started in his first New Zealand Cup. However, his big race bad luck continued when, despite starting well, he tired to finish a clear last and was found to have an infection after the race. After getting over that infection, he resumed racing in the Waikato Flying Mile, where he ran a strong-finishing fourth.

Pedigree

Auckland Reactor was inbred 4 × 4 to Meadow Skipper, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

See also
 Auckland Reactor's Official Website
 Auckland Reactor wins the New Zealand Free For All – Youtube

References

2004 racehorse births
Auckland Pacing Cup winners
Harness racing in New Zealand
New Zealand standardbred racehorses
Racehorses bred in New Zealand Bruno Rocha da Fonseca (born 26 November 1985), known as Hugo Gloss, is a Brazilian presenter, journalist, voice actor,  blogger and YouTuber.

Biography and career
Born in Brasília, Hugo Gloss has a degree in journalism and pedagogy and a master's degree in public relations. He became known in 2010 on Twitter, when he created a fake profile inspired by humorist Christian Pior, and named in a spoof of Hugo Boss; he published things that drew attention and because of that he became well known in the social network, calling attention of celebrities such as Claudia Leitte and Luciano Huck, at the time he was living outside Brazil, but because of his success, he returned to his home country.

In 2010, he was invited to join the cast of Big Brother Brasil, but he ultimately did not join the show. Then came the opportunity to join the Globo program Caldeirão do Huck, where he worked as an editor for several years. He became friends of celebrities, and decided to create a website, hugogloss.com, which today is a company and already has four people working there beyond. The blogger is always traveling to different places, including places outside the country to make coverage of major events like the Academy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Video Music Awards, among others, to his website, which is one of the most accessed from Brazil.

In 2016, Hugo Gloss was invited by MTV (Brazil) to be one of the presenters of the Brazilian version of Ridiculousness, known in Brazil as Ridículos alongside actor Felipe Titto and Ellen Mil Grau. In social networks, it is very successful, there are more than 7 million followers on Instagram alone, more than 4 million just in Facebook. O his website is one of the most visited sites in Brazil, it is the first character of the Brazilian internet have a profile seen in Snapchat.

References

External links

1985 births
Living people
Streamy Award winners
Brazilian Internet celebrities