Kelso fillies to make debut but it will be heavy going
Ken Kelso is today looking forward to heading to Rotorua, where he will kick off the careers of a couple of wellbred fillies.
Little Jeanie will make her raceday debut in the Cook 2YO (1230m) and Kelso is hoping she can showcase the talent she has displayed at home.
“She’s a nice, well-bred filly. She’s not overly big but she has a great temperament and is a good doer. She’s going the right way at this stage,” said Kelso, who trains in partnership with wife Bev.
Out of a half-sister to Group 1 winners Puccini and Sir Slick, Little Jeanie was runner-up in her 900m trial on a heavy8 track at Te Rapa last month, and Kelso is hoping the daughter of Savabeel can replicate that form on Arawa Park’s heavy10rated surface.
“She trialled up well at Te Rapa and seemed to handle the ground,” Kelso said. “Whether she handles the ground [today] will be a big question mark. She has handled it at the trials, but raceday is a bit different. She has worked well and everything seems to be okay. She has drawn nicely [2] and I expect a nice run.”
Depending on how she performs today, Little Jeanie may follow a similar path to pin-up stablemate Legarto’s season last year.
The daughter of Proisir won her sole 2-year-old start before returning in the spring, when she won four consecutive races, including the Group 3 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), before jetting off in autumn to Australia, where she won the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington.
“It depends how she goes [today],” Kelso said. “If she put her hand up, we may give her a little break and then bring her back like we did last year with Legarto. We’re just trying to get a 2-year-old run into her, but with these heavy tracks, it’s not easy.”
Kelso is also looking forward to Divine Essence making her debut in the Campbell 3YO (1230m). The 3-year-old filly showed plenty of promise at the trials as a juvenile but injury delayed her raceday debut.
“She looked very promising and won her trial at Taupo nicely last year. She had a setback with a slight hairline fracture and just needed time to heal. She seems to have got over that now and has had one trial on the synthetic.”
The track conditions will play a factor once more but Kelso is confident of a bold showing from the filly.
“She seems to handle the ground working on the track, but once again, it’s a question of whether she’s going to cope with it [today]. But she needs to kick off somewhere and lefthanded on a grass track is hard to find, that’s why we’re going.”