Kelso lauds Levante
As much as trainer Ken Kelso loved winning the Group 1 $250,000 Telegraph at Trentham yesterday, he loved Levante winning it more.
Because the Matamata trainer, who prepares the outstanding mare with wife Bev, says few horses deserve elite-level success as much as Levante.
“After what she has overcome, having two colic surgeries, to come back and win a Group 1 is something,” said Kelso. “It shows how tough she is and she deserves that next to her name. Sure, Bev and I love it, too. I think that’s about our eighth Group 1 winner together, but this is all about the mare.”
Levante won a stirring homestretch battle over fellow mare Roch N Horse, with the nose margin potentially worth 10 times the stake in the breeding barn.
Mascarpone was a brave third but the other huge story of the race was hot favourite Entriviere, who was snagged back to last early to get away from the inside and never looked comfortable after and only battled late, albeit it in slightly restricted quarters.
Not only did she win her first Group 1 but Levante lowered the race record by scorching over the Trentham turf in 1m 06.18s, clipping 0.33s off Bawalaksana’s 1999 record.
It was the first Group 1 winner the Kelsos have trained since Perfect Fit won the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders in 2016 but their strike rate with small numbers racing is remarkable, with Ken having never lined up more than 100 horses in a season.
With the daughter of Rich Hill stallion Proisir having shown the tractability to race handier this campaign than last year, she has plenty of obvious 1400m-1600m Group 1 targets left at home this season.
“She will go to the BCD Sprint [February 12] at Te Rapa next and then she has other group options here. We’ve discussed an Australian campaign for her but that becomes more difficult with Covid and the travel restrictions.
“We’re also very aware she’s had those two operations and that could be a factor in any future decisions we make about Australia.”
That Levante is now our fastest ever 1200m galloper on New Zealand soil is an oddity of breeding, as her dam Island Doy had previously left only stayers, which raises the possibility on breeding that Levante may even one day stretch her brilliance past 1600m, although now as a Group 1 winner, she may not be asked to prove that.
Another highlight of yesterday’s meeting was Bankers Choice’s win in the $80,000 Anniversary Handicap. The unheralded gelding has been one of the finds of the summer, having won the Stella Artois Final at Ellerslie in his previous start, and he has now won five of his last six.