But age - and 156 starts under the belt - was no problem for the son of Mogambo as he won his second consecutive Dunedin Cup.
Form had deserted the May 2011-whelped dog since winning a c5 sprint at Forbury Park at the start of March, but he looked up for the task in the stir ups.
And that translated on to the track as he sped to the lead from the 545m traps and was never headed, beating kennel-mate Botany Blaze.
His trainer, John McInerney, who is now on 440 wins for the season after three wins at Forbury Park and one at Addington yesterday, was surprised to see the old stager back at the head of the field.
''I thought the one dog would have run him down actually,'' McInerney said.
Punters thought so as well.
Homebush Chopper was sent out paying $33.70 on the win totalisator, but that looked like the best bank interest in the world in the shadows of the post.
''While he's going good we'll keep him going,'' McInerney said.
''We would like to win $100,000 with him and he's not that far away.''
The $2835 winning stake takes Homebush Chopper's earnings to almost $87,000.
He has a habit of backing up in feature races, having won the 2013 and 2014 Robinson Rosebowl at Addington.
Earlier in the day, Shadow Apache remained unbeaten since arriving in New Zealand with a 4 length win in a c3 sprint.
The Tuiaki dog won just two of his nine starts in New South Wales, but has found the New Zealand racing pattern to his liking, leading throughout in all his races including yesterday's comfortable win.
