By the point of the home turn, Legarto had moved up into fourth and was looming ominously on the outside of Fall For Cindy, Acquarello and Moving Melody.
Ryan Elliot pushed the button in the straight and Legarto bounded to the lead. Acquarello fought back bravely on her inside, with Legarto’s lack of race fitness beginning to take a toll and her tank emptying. But pure class shone through as Legarto edged away to beat Acquarello by half a length.
“That was stunning, I’ve got no words to describe it,” said Ken Kelso, who trains Legarto in partnership with his wife Bev.
“She’s been away from the races for 12 months and has just had that one exhibition gallop. When she loomed on the outside at the bend, I thought, ‘We’ve got a chance here. Hopefully she doesn’t come to the end of it.’ But what a horse she is.
“I’ve got a lot of people to thank. The Treweeks had her on their water treadmill, then Danica Guy had her on her treadmill as well. The staff at home, our vet and farrier, they all play a big part in getting these horses to race day. And of course, even though Bev can’t come to the races now, she’s still a big part of it. She’s my eyes and ears. We discuss everything that we do with all of our horses.”
Elliot has now ridden Legarto to eight of her 10 career wins.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t even know she was in work until Ken rang me up a week ago and asked me to come and gallop her. But Ken had her so forward. I was really surprised how forward she was when I came and rode her.
“That lack of race-day fitness was going to get to her at some stage, but luckily she’s got that class on her side.
“She jumped well today. I didn’t want to do too much on her, but she got into a good rhythm and then we popped out three-wide to get going. She worked through her gears nicely and then let down so well and got there very quickly.
“She might have been coming to the end of it in the last 100m, but she’s such a gutsy and classy mare and she showed that today.”
Legarto was bred by Warwick Jeffries and was offered by Highline Thoroughbreds during Book 2 of Karaka 2021, where Ancroft Stud bought her for $90,000.
From a 16-start career, Legarto has now recorded 10 wins and three placings. Saturday’s win took her career earnings past $2 million.
The TAB now rates Legarto a $1.40 favourite for the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day on March 8.
“That’s probably the obvious target,” Kelso said. “But we’ve always said we’ll take things one step at a time in this preparation. Hopefully she’ll come through this run safely, and then we can start working towards our next target, which will probably be the Breeders’ Stakes at Ellerslie in three weeks.”
– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
