 The New Zealand Messenger Championship has traditionally been the most prestigious 4 year-old race in New Zealand, and a key guide to feature races in the following season like the New Zealand Trotting Cup and Auckland Cup.This is evidenced by New Zealand Messenger Championship winners and subsequent Cup victors such as Lazarus, Auckland Reactor, Monkey King, Mainland Banner, Elsu and Just An Excuse to name a few.For the 2013 and 2014 years 5 year olds were also eligible to compete in the race.