Hasahalo earns McKee Guineas
STEPHEN McKee should have been launching into wild celebrations but he couldn’t help but feel for the connections of Prom Queen.
McKee was fresh from watching a dazzling performance from his filly Hasahalo who came from way back in the pack to win the $300,000 Group I gavelhouse.com 1000 Guineas (1600m).
But as well as celebrating the moment of Group I glory at Riccarton on Saturday, he was feeling for Kenny and Lisa Rae who train Prom Queen, the $1.70 favourite for the race, with their daughter Krystal Williams.
McKee knows how they were feeling better than most.
In the same race back in 2014, he started O’Marilyn as a $1.70 favourite.
On that day, O’Marilyn finished seventh. On Saturday Prom Queen finished ninth.
‘‘I definitely feel for the Rae’s,’’ McKee said.
‘‘When you’ve got an odds-on pop and you don’t run anywhere its tough.’’
Hasahalo’s upset four-length victory at $23.70 was McKee’s first win in the race. It was vindication for the Ardmore trainer following three previous seconds in the race.
‘‘It’s good to come here and finally have a good day instead of running second,’’ he said.
‘‘When she came past us with about 100 (metres) to go it was pretty special.’’
Hasahalo, raced by the Go Racing Fright Night Breeding Partnership, turned on a blistering turn of foot when Sam Spratt angled her to the middle of the track.
McKee confirmed the next major target for Hasahalo will be the $1 million Karaka Mile at Ellerslie in January.
‘‘We thought if we could run out a decent mile today we would look at that,’’ McKee said.
Hasahalo finished second behind Melody Belle in the twoyear-old Karaka Million last season.
Go Racing’s Matt Allnutt said Spratt rode the race of her life.
Allnutt, the racing manager of the prominent syndicator, believes they have a special filly on their hands and on Saturday’s performance it is hard to argue.
Already a Group III winner, Group I performer at two, and now a Group I winner at three, by Savabeel, Hasahalo is now an extremely valuable breeding prospect regardless of what she does for the rest of her racing career.
Dijon Bleu was second ahead of Southland filly The Lustre.
Prom Queen was handy on the rail after being an early leader but wilted late.
Kenny Rae was obviously dejected but also remaining upbeat.
The winner of eight races from 10 starts will head to the paddock for a well-earned break. IT is going to be the battle of Australia’s best, Lennytheshark, and New Zealand superstar Lazarus when the Inter Dominion starts at Gloucester Park on Friday.
While Lazarus has been dominating the New Zealand scene, becoming the 15th horse to win two New Zealand Trotting Cups on Tuesday, Lennytheshark has been taking care of business in Victoria.
He has won a Victoria Cup and then broke the track record by a remarkable five seconds in taking out the Yarra Valley Cup, his final lead-up to the Inter Dominion.
Trainer David Aiken wants another Inter Dominion title with Lennytheshark after winning the final in 2015. He had to be scratched after qualifying for the final last year.
‘‘We’ve got unfinished business there,’’ Aiken said. ‘‘We’re really looking forward to Perth now. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime horse. I’m just so proud of him.’’
It could be argued Lennytheshark and Lazarus meet at the peak of their powers in Perth. They have shadowed each other in the past season, clashing twice where the score is 1-all, and they have only been separated by a couple of metres.
Lazarus had a metre margin on Lennytheshark in the Ballarat Cup, when they were both beaten by Smolda, before Lennytheshark proved too strong in the Miracle Mile, where Lazarus was third. That was Lazarus’s last defeat. After Lazarus’s New Zealand Cup win, trainer-driver Mark Purdon said: ‘‘He is a champion, I think that is the only way to describe him.’’
He will get his chance to prove on the 800-metre track at Gloucester Park in the next fortnight.
The two stars make up for the series only attracting 28 horses, but they are unlikely to clash until the final on December 8 given their seedings of one and two.
‘‘While it is disappointing not to have the full 30 runners, the talent in the final acceptances is sure to make for an outstanding series,’’ RWWAHarness Racing Chief Handicapper Warren Wishart said.