Orange dreaming of delivering a world title on home soil
Matt Markham - Raceform • September 19th, 2025 10:30 AM
Never one to take anything for granted, Blair Orange doesn’t hesitate in stating just how fortunate he feels to be afforded the chance to wear the silver fern of New Zealand in November.
For the second time in his career, the champion horseman will be the New Zealand representative at the World Drivers Championship. The prestigious event is this year being held on Kiwi shores, giving The Postman an extra leg up in his bid to be crowned the best in the world – not that he looks at it that way.
He’s chasing down his eighth consecutive New Zealand drivers’ premiership, but despite the success, Orange does everything he can to remain grounded, especially when it comes to being chosen to represent his country.
“It’s a huge honour and I feel very fortunate to get the opportunity again,” Orange told RaceForm. “Some of the greats of our game have walked the path I am about to for the World Drivers Championship, but equally many of the greatest drivers I have seen haven’t.
“A guy like Anthony Butt comes straight to mind, he’s one of the best ever and he never got the chance, and that puts it into perspective for me a bit about just how much of an honour it is to be chosen.”
Having tasted the championship back in 2023 in Europe, Orange has a little more understanding this time around of what to expect when it comes to the series, most importantly how hard it is to win.
“It’s a tough competition, everyone competing is a very good driver. I get a bit of a leg up in the fact I’ll know the form, the horses and the tracks and crucially our style of racing here – but you’ve still got to go out there and get the job done.”
Preparation for such a series is difficult in this stage of the build-up, and Orange is really just limited to doing what he does every other week of the year by getting out and trying to win races across the country. Once fields are drawn however, the hard work will really begin.
“There’s not much to do at the moment. I am starting to get a little more excited about it now, especially hearing and seeing all the promotional stuff about the championships that is coming out – that’s a bit of a realisation that we’re not too far away.”
A proud sporting man and a former age-group New Zealand representative in rugby league, Orange is also acutely aware of the emotions that will come in slipping into the specially designed silks with the Kiwi silver fern.
“That’s special in any sport. The chance to wear it and represent New Zealand, it is the ultimate for anyone who competes in a sporting field.”
A number of good friends and family are intending on being a part of the entire journey to lead the support crew for the ‘hometown hero’.
“Jason Broad and Andrew Stuart are both pretty excited about tagging along with me again and my daughter Lily is going to come with me to Cambridge for the parts up there which will be great.
“My son Harry (leading junior driver Harrison Orange) will obviously be up there too, so having them there supporting will be cool.”
The World Drivers Championship is a 20-heat series conducted over the course of 10 days with 10 drivers from around the globe travelling to New Zealand to compete.
Racing will be held on both days at the iconic Kaikoura meeting on November 2 and 3 before heading up to Cambridge on November 5. There’s a quick stop at Addington on November 7 before heading south to Winton on November 9, and then the series wraps up with the final heat on IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup Day at Addington on November 11.
Orange will be joined in the championships by Brett Beckwith (USA), Mats Djuse (Sweden), Gary Hall Jnr (Australia), James McDonald (Canada), Michael Nimczyk (Germany), Santtu Raitala (Finland), Antonio Simiolo (Italy), Jaap van Rijn (Netherlands) and Pierre Vercruysse (France).
Six New Zealand drivers have won the championships previously – Tony Herlihy, Maurice McKendry, Robert Cameron, Kevin Holmes, Mark Jones and Dexter Dunn. Orange has had a few chats with the latter about the series.
“I’ve spoken to Dex about it a bit, he gave me a bit of a rundown on the American driver coming over because he’s out there competing with him quite a bit.
“It’s a great list of New Zealand past winners and I’d love to put my name on it too.”
As well as the World Drivers Championship, there’s another moment on the horizon that Orange can look forward to.
Heading into racing this weekend, he sits on 2,976 driving wins in New Zealand and is edging closer to becoming just the fourth driver to reach the magical 3,000-win mark. In reaching the milestone, he’ll join Tony Herlihy, Maurice McKendry and Ricky May.
Remarkably, 1600 of his wins have come over the course of the past eight years with his driving career beginning in 1996 when he drove his first winner, Whizza Nova at Reefton.
He’ll be out to eat into those required wins this weekend with drives at both Addington on Friday night and then at Motukarara on Sunday – a huge day for the annual Blue September campaign, of which Orange is an ambassador, which raises funds for prostate cancer.
