It says a lot about just how special Keayang Zahara might be that she is almost the most hyped Australian at this New Zealand Cup week.
And while the 3-year-old Victoria trotter has a long way to go to match the heroics of now dual New Zealand Cup winner Swayzee and or Dominion winner Just Believe, her New Zealand debut tomorrow is almost as eagerly anticipated.
The beautiful and bold Victorian trotter has been lured to Addington by the new $500,000 trotting slot race the Ascent, and it is likely her Kiwi rivals will end up wishing she had stayed at home.
Keayang Zahara has obliterated her rivals in Australia, and while dominant 3-year-old trotters are relatively common in harness racing, fillies like her are not.
She is already running open-class times, albeit aided by the change of official birthdays for harness horses, as a few years back Keayang Zahara would have been considered a 4-year-old by this stage of her life.
But her age will ultimately prove irrelevant, as she has the X-factor of a real-deal topliner and is a horse that could be something very special if she stays healthy and sound.
If she has one weakness, it may be her inquisitive mind, as driver Jason Lee says the black beauty loves to survey new environments – which is why he took her to Addington for a private workout last Saturday.
“She is like that at any new track. She loves to look around, and she did it here [Addington] on Saturday too,” says Lee.
“But now she has been there, she will be good as gold, and she was actually better at Addington than most times she goes somewhere new.”
Swayzee (left, blue and yellow) winning the NZ Cup for Cam Hart at Addington.
So that is one ray of hope blocked out for rivals’ connections, and it is hard to find many more as under the conditions of The Ascent, Keayang Zahara and other fillies drew inside the boys.
Punters taking very short odds will be hoping she trots straight to the front, from where she would seem unbeatable if she brings her Aussie best to Addington, but Lee admits she is no one-trick glamour pony.
“Sure, I’d like to lead, and that will be the plan, but I don’t think it is a disaster if she doesn’t,” he offers.
“It is only a small field and she has amazing speed coming from behind, so as long as she brings her best, and I have no reason to expect anything else, I think she will be too good.”
If the Aussie sensation is to get beaten then fellow filly Empire City is the most logical danger.
She has some gate speed and, even if she can’t lead, she will be handy, and was excellent coming from well back for second at Ashburton last start.
If she trails Keayang Zahara and the leader is attacked, which looks unlikely, she could get her chance up the passing lane.
There is little between the six boys in the 1980m mobile race and Bring On The Muscle was very strong at Ashburton last start, but he has drawn the outside of the second line so will be giving some very smart young trotters a start.
The Ascent and the $500,000 Velocity for 3-year-old pacers are the two centrepieces of a revitalised Show Day, which also moves into a later slot, finishing in the early evening.
The meeting will see Tuesday’s winner of the Dominion in Just Believe return for the $100,000 New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All, but both NZ Cup winner Swayzee and runner-up Don’t Stop Dreaming will miss tomorrow’s $200,000 New Zealand Pacing Free-For-All.
Show Day
What: The second big harness meeting of New Zealand Cup week.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
