Trainers Ken and Bev Kelso will be hoping lightning can strike twice.

The Matamata conditioners unleashed promising juvenile Latoya (NZ) (Proisir) to win over 800m at the Avondale trials on Tuesday, with the Proisir filly showing she has inherited at least some of the family ability.

The two-year-old’s sister is the star mare Legarto, a five-time Group One winner for the Kelsos who recently sold for A$2.8 million as a broodmare, and while Ken Kelso is not one to get too far ahead of himself, he is pleased with what he has seen from Latoya to date.

“She's a good doer,” Kelso said. “She's got a little bit of sass about her and I suppose in some way she's similar to Legarto, but she's a smaller version.

“We were pleased with her trial today and she improved a lot from her first hit-out at Waipa.

“We were a bit puzzled by her first trial. Opie (Bosson) had been working her and jumped her out, and we expected it to go well. She was very slow away. She turned her head in the barrier and they went like cut cats and ran her off her feet.

“We were expecting an improvement today and she certainly did that.”

The Warwick Jeffries bred and raced filly will likely make her raceday debut in the coming weeks, although her conditioners are critical of New Zealand’s two-year-old programming, which sees juveniles largely pitted against older rivals at this time of year.  

“I just said to the owner, we'll see how she does post-trial,” Kelso said. “Finding a two-year-old race is very difficult. I went through the program after the trial and I couldn't find any. They're all two- and three-year-old-plus.

“I think it’s totally ridiculous. The two-year-olds are our future, we need to have two-year-old races for these horses.

“If you think they're a Guineas-type of horse, it’s nice to give them a two-year-old start at this time of year against their own age. It's very hard with the (wetter) tracks and running against older horses. You have three-year-old races, so why don't we have two-year-old races?”

The Matamata horseman followed with great interest the recent sale of Legarto at the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale where global giant Yulong secured the stunning mare for A$2.8 million.

“She’ll get every chance as a broodmare with Yulong and I believe she is going to be mated with Extreme Choice in spring. I messaged Sam Fairgray and he said that’s the plan,” Kelso said. 

Meanwhile, the Kelsos have an eye toward spring as a number of the stable’s most talented gallopers are back in the stable following a break, including Group One performed sprinter Alabama Lass (Alabama Express).

The four-year-old mare was last seen on Champions Day at Ellerslie when racing to certain victory in the Gr.3 King’s Plate (1200m) only to duck inwards through the running rail and dislodge rider Sam Collett.   

“She looks fantastic. She put on about 60 kilos during her spell. Henley Park did a marvelous job with her,” Kelso said.

“There appears to be nothing physically wrong with her after the fall. The biggest challenge will be placement.

“We're just going to trial her in the spring, we're not going to make any calls on where we're going and just make sure everything's right after that incident at Ellerslie.

“We haven’t ruled out going back to Australia and having another crack at the Moir Stakes (Gr.1, 1000m) where she ran second and was probably a little bit unlucky last year, but there are also options here and it will all be dictated by how she comes up.”

Lightly-raced four-year-old Sarti (NZ) (Snitzel) and talented staying mare Levakia (NZ) (Proisir) are others to look forward to in spring.

“Sarti is a nice horse that will go through the grades and Levakia has also been back about two weeks,” Kelso said. “She looks good and will hopefully make into a nice Cups mare. 

“She's rated 86, so she's going to have to be running in those open class races. We'll probably target some of those Auckland handicap races — maybe a Counties Cup (Gr.3, 2100m) or a Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Gr.3, 2400m). She seems to go better right-handed.”

In addition to Latoya, the hands-on Matamata trainers are pleased with the calibre of younger stock coming through the stable.

“One horse we really like is the half-sister to Feroce, the Almanzor filly Acanthus,” Kelso said. “She's out spelling. She's due back in a couple of weeks, but she showed plenty in her trials and will likely put her hand up in the spring.

“We also like a Super Seth filly out of O’Reilly Rose called Themarierose. She hasn't put her hands up yet, but she wants a firm deck. She's due back at the end of the month.”

Kelso also confirmed smart Ellerslie two-year-old winner Stromlinien (NZ) (Almanzor) as a new addition to the stable, with the Listed Star Way Stakes fourth-placegetter still in pre-training.

“It's going to be a whole new landscape without Legarto, but we’ll be doing our best to find another one,” he said. - NZ Racing Desk

Pride’s new Poison to Civic Stakes

There aren't many better at taking a tried horse and improving them to greater heights than Joseph Pride, who has taken care of talented gelding Poison Chalice (NZ) (Savabeel).

The six-year-old by Savabeel was formerly prepared by Horsham-based trainer Paul Preusker, who was last seen running tenth in the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m).

While Poison Chalice is yet to win beyond benchmark grade, he's been about the mark in Group company on numerous occasions, coming closest when second in the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes (1800m) in the Spring of 2024.

Pride is hoping to get a better guide on the new stable addition when he lines up in the Listed Civic Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

"Poison Chalice raced down in Melbourne, he's a nice Savabeel horse," Pride said.

"He's going well, he trialled up, there's improvement to come but he should run well."

"He's raced up over a mile to 2000 metres, we'll kick him off at seven furlongs and see how he goes.

"Lovely horse, hasn't changed ownership, they've got a really nice horse."

Pride has fitted Poison Chalice with two trials in readiness for this campaign, improving markedly in his latest Warwick Farm hitout when sitting on speed and finishing second over 791m, saying the horse had settled in well to Sydney.

"Getting them on the Sydney leg can be a bit overstated," Pride commented.

"When they come to you at the start of the preparation, he's been in work for the last ten to twelve weeks and he's done it all on the Sydney leg, and he seems to have adjusted well." - NZ Racing Desk

Tuhikaramea barn hold strong hand at Cambridge

Graeme and Debbie Rogerson and Clinton Isdale will be well-represented at Waikato Thoroughbred Racing’s annual RDA Raceday at Cambridge on Wednesday, with the trainers set to line-up a dozen runners at the midweek meeting.

They are particularly upbeat about their chances in the Manning Investments (2000m) where they will line-up a trio of contenders, including Tarzador, Novak and Solidify, however, the latter may be saved for Ellerslie on Saturday.

Tarzador (NZ) (Tarzino) heads into the race in winning form, having won over 1700m at Awapuni Synthetic late last month after placing at Cambridge, and Isdale is hopeful she can put in a similar performance.

“She won really well,” Isdale said. “It was a tough run, she got taken on for the majority of the race but toughed it out nicely. She will be thereabouts.”

Novak (NZ) (El Roca) has placed in his last two starts, including a runner-up performance behind stablemate Skymax at Cambridge a fortnight ago, and Isdale is expecting another bold effort.

“He always runs a nice race,” said Isdale, who also owns the gelding. “He took off way too early last start and battled on well. He wasn’t going to go with Skymax, she is probably a bit too classy for synthetic racing.”

The stable is currently weighing up whether to line-up Group Two performer Solidify (NZ) (Redwood) on Wednesday, but if he does start, he will get the benefit of apprentice jockey Tom Wigram’s four-kilogram claim, bringing his impost down to 56.5kg.

“He seemed to handle the surface alright (in his only polytrack start earlier this month), he was just impeded by the big weight,” Isdale said.

“We are 50/50 about going there with him, we may nominate him for Auckland and go there.

“He is not an overly big horse, so if he does run, the claim will assist.”

Isdale is also looking forward to lining up Group One performer Domain Ace (NZ) (Swiss Ace) in the Cambridge Equine Hospital (1550m), and he expects to see plenty of improvement from the son of Swiss Ace from his first run on the surface earlier this month, with his trainers having varied his work and added some gear.

“You will see a different horse with blinkers on,” Isdale said. “He has been to the beach and he has been doing a bit of jumping as well.”

Isdale has also labelled Impressive Belle (Press Statement) in the Manning Investments (970m), Brutal Reality (Brutal) in the Group One Turf Bar (2000m), and Melkor (NZ) (Telperion) in the TCL Earthworks (2000m) as some of the stables other leading chances at the meeting.

“Impressive Belle is coming back from a long layoff, she had a wind op,” Isdale said. “She has had two nice enough trials without any pressure put on her. If she is anywhere near her best she should be going very close in that race.

“Brutal Reality’s previous run on the poly was good, but she got impeded at Palmy and nearly fell. If she can run up to her previous start on the poly, she will be extremely hard to beat.

“Melkor is also a nice chance. He went well the other day and got held up for a little bit.”

The Cambridge RDA meeting, which is now in its sixth year, raises funds for the local Riding for the Disabled branch. The meeting combines live racing with fundraising activities, and a gold coin donation on entry is encouraged. The first race is set to jump at 11:25am. - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk

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