Horse racing: Legarto being kept on sharp side

Legshot has a shot at history and a lot of cash in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill . Photo / Race Images

Trainer Ken Kelso says Legarto has been deliberately been kept “on the sharp side” as she tries to win the richest race contested by a Kiwi horse in Sydney tomorrow.

No New Zealand-trained horse has started in, let alone won, a race worth A$10 million or more so Legarto has a shot at a piece of history and a lot of cash in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill in Sydney’s west.

The new four-year-old race has drawn a massive 20-horse field, which seems about four too many for a 1500m race around Rosehill in Parramatta, but Legarto has drawn ideally at barrier 6.

While Kelso is old-school and not a huge believer in the accuracy of many speed maps, he hopes draw will give jockey Michael Dee the chance to have Legarto midfield and one off the rail.

“If she is there ready to pounce and gets her chance we will be happy,” says Kelso, who trains with wife Bev.

Legarto had her Golden Eagle preparation thrown a curve ball when she was scratched from the Arrowfield Plate on September 30 because of the heavy track but it was quickly put back on track when she won her hometown Matamata Cup a week later.

Since then everything has gone to plan for Kelso and he couldn’t be happier with last season’s Australian Guineas winner.

“She is exactly where she needs to be,” says Kelso. “Her exhibition gallop at Rotorua last week was ideal and she worked well on Tuesday morning before having a few hours in the paddock and then had a very good trip over here [to Sydney].

“It was nine hours stable door to stable door which is about the best you can possibly hope for and she handled it very well.”

Kelso has made one slight change to his training of Legarto for tomorrow, keeping her fresher to keep speed in her legs for the 1500m around Rosehill, which could require her to he sharper and more dexterous than 1600m on a bigger track.

“That has been part of the balancing act because eventually I think she will get further than the 1600m, up to 2000m. But for this race she might need that bit of sharpness.”

The Golden Eagle has come up stronger than looked likely a month ago, with Perth star Amelia’s Jewel’s connections choosing it over the Cox Plate while high-class Japanese galloper Obamburumai worked well on Wednesday.

Add serious Group 1 gallopers such as Kovalica, Hawaii Five, some European raiders and plenty more and if Legarto is to surpass the greats of New Zealand racing to become our richest single race winner, she is going to need to do something special.

So strong and rich is the Golden Eagle it overshadows the A$3 million Giga Kick Stakes for the sprinters 45 minutes earlier in which last-start Everest winner Think About It takes on stablemate Private Eye over the 1300m sprint.

Golden Kiwis

The New Zealand team taking on the A$10 million Golden Eagle, the richest race contested by a New Zealand-trained horse.

Horse: Legarto, bred and has had eight of her nine career starts here.

Trainers: Ken and Bev Kelso, Matamata

Jockey: Former Hawke’s Bay rider Mick Dee.

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.