 At two and three, he won 10 of his 13 starts, including the New Zealand 2000 Guineas, the New Zealand Derby, the Air New Zealand Stakes, and the Rosehill Guineas, but finished sixth, as 10/9 favourite (approximately $2.10), in the AJC Derby when attempting to win his ninth race in a row.At four, Surfers Paradise mixed his form in the early part of the spring, with unplaced runs on wet tracks interspersed with seconds to Rough Habit in the Mudgway Stakes and Castletown in the Kelt Capital Stakes.As a result, Surfers Paradise was an outsider, at 14/1, for his Australian reappearance in the Cox Plate.