Jason Lee’s trip to New Zealand in a couple of weeks will be fuelled by a fair slice of patriotism.

Like so many in Aussie harness racing, especially Victorians, the 29-year-old Lee grew-up watching a long line of Kiwi stars cross the ditch and not just compete in, but win so many of our biggest races.

“They’d come and kick our arse,” he said.

“Year after year, race after race, those great Kiwis would come over and beat us.”

But the tide has turned and the Kiwi dominance is no longer.

There’s no doubt the breed has improved in Australia and maybe the training has, too.

While it was commonplace for the Kiwis to come here and beat us, it hardly ever happened in reverse.

“I remember what a big thing it was when I was a teenager and Sushi Sushi went across (to Auckland) and won the (Northern) Derby,” Lee recalled.

“And then how unthinkable it seemed when Kerryn (Manning) won the NZ Cup with Arden Rooney.

“But lots more Aussies are going now and not just being competitive, but winning.”

Almost 12 months ago, Swayzee became the first Aussie pacer since Arden Rooney and only second since My Lightning Blue way back in 1987 to beat the Kiwis in their biggest race of any code, the NZ Cup.

Just Believe went to Cambridge on April 12 this year and led home an Aussie “First Four” in the inaugural TAB Trot, beating Callmethebreeze, Queen Elida and Arcee Phoenix.

A few weeks later, his stablemate Better Eclipse won the Group 1 Auckland Cup.

That’s all fuelled the strongest Aussie raid on NZ Cup Week in history next month.

And Lee can’t wait to be part of it with brother, Paddy, his mother, Marg, and their freakish three-year-old trotting filly Keayang Zahara.

The daughter of boom sire Volstead stretched her unbeaten record to 11 races when she overcame a tricky inside back row draw to beat the boys in yesterday’s Victoria Trotters’ Derby at Maryborough.

She only started racing in April and is already a five-time Group 1 winner.

It’s clear she’s got “panels” on the Aussies, but can she handle the travel to NZ and what will be a rise in class to beat the Kiwis?

On the times she is running and the way she’s doing it, Keayang Zahara is a deserved $1.70 favourite for the inaugural $NZ500,000 The Ascent at Addington on November 15.

If she delivers there, she will stay on another two major targets – the $NZ140,000 Group 1 NZ Trotters’ Oaks on November 29 and the $NZ200,000 Derby a week later.

If Keayang Zahara’s winning streak continues, she can finish her first season of racing unbeaten in 14 starts, seven of them at Group 1 level.

And Lee and his clan can start to plot their next Kiwi raid, most likely for the TAB Trot at Cambridge next April.