Ken Kelso is hoping lightning might strike twice when Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) makes her second start at Flemington in Saturday\u2019s Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top-class daughter of Proisir produced arguably the best performance of her glittering career when she ventured to Melbourne 12 months ago and became the first New Zealand-trained winner of the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m). Held up until after the 200m mark, she quickly moved through her gears for jockey Mick Dee and launched a stunning late burst down the Flemington straight to snatch victory in the shadows of the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the second Group One victory for Legarto, who had won the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) the previous spring. She has since added the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) to her collection during a four-year-old season that has also produced surprise defeats in the Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) and this month\u2019s Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s twice now in big races at Ellerslie where a horse has slipped away on the corner and it\u2019s just been too hard to pick them up and we\u2019ve had to settle for second,\u201d said Kelso, who trains in partnership with his wife Bev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI certainly wasn\u2019t disappointed on either occasion. She was making ground strongly again in the Bonecrusher last start and would have got El Vencedor in another couple of strides, and her sectional times were very good again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be nice to get her back to Flemington on Saturday, it\u2019s a big and roomy track that she\u2019s shown she likes, and I just have an inkling in the back of my mind that she might be better left-handed. Mick Dee will ride her again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legarto flew across the Tasman on Wednesday, and Kelso reported that she took the travel in her stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s handled the trip over perfectly,\u201d he said. \u201cShe did well overnight and is looking very bright this morning. I think we\u2019re right on target for Saturday. The build-up couldn\u2019t have gone any better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know it\u2019s a strong Australian Cup field this year, but she deserves her shot and I\u2019m sure that she\u2019ll acquit herself very well again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back home, the Kelso stable has dual representation at Ellerslie on Saturday. Melody Belle\u2019s half-sister My Annie Belle (NZ) (Snitzel) will line up in the Barfoot & Thompson (1400m), while Jolted \u2013 a daughter of Deep Impact and the Gr.1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) winner Abbey Marie (Redoute’s Choice) \u2013 tackles the Elsdon Park (2200m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy Annie Belle worked very nicely in company with Legarto on Tuesday morning,\u201d Kelso said. \u201cShe ran a really nice race for third on Auckland Cup Day last start and has progressed well since then. I think she\u2019ll appreciate the step up to 1400m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe ran Jolted over ground at Matamata two starts ago and she didn\u2019t have a lot of luck. She dropped back to a mile at Tauranga last time and was good, but I think she\u2019s looking for further now. She\u2019ll be an interesting runner.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ken Kelso is hoping lightning might strike twice when Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) makes her second start at Flemington in Saturday\u2019s Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m). The top-class daughter of Proisir produced arguably the best performance of her glittering career when she ventured to Melbourne 12 months ago and became the first New Zealand-trained winner of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":40927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"category-featured","9":"category-racing"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Legarto-Aust-Guineas-7-BC.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40939,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40930\/revisions\/40939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}