Racing: Keeninsky prepares for NZ swansong

Keeninsky could well be having his last race in New Zealand when he contests the $120,000 Telegraph Handicap at Trentham, Wellington, on Saturday.

The Stravinsky 4-year-old stallion is bound for a stud career at the Waikato property of Queensland part-owner Dick Karreman and co-trainer Stephen Autridge is not looking beyond Saturday's group one sprint.

"As far as we are concerned, it's probably his last run for me," Autridge said yesterday. "We are not making any plans past Saturday."

Autridge said Keeninsky could race in Australia for Sydney-based training partner Graeme Rogerson but everything was being geared to boost the horse's value as a future sire.

That's one of the main reasons he was tackling the Telegraph at his first start for 10 months since suffering a leg injury which required the removal of bone chips.

"We thought if we are going to set the horse for one race what should it be?" Autridge said.

"We thought it's got to be left-handed, it's got to be the shortest race we can find, and it's got to be group one.

"We had time up our sleeve so we just had to set him for it."

Keeninsky won last year's Telegraph which was a feat in itself, the horse being a 3-year-old and having his first start for more than two months.

Autridge, however, was in no doubt victory for the horse on Saturday would represent a bigger feat.

"A 4-year-old stallion who hasn't raced for 10 months coming back from injury, it doesn't come much tougher than that," he said.

All of Keeninsky's seven wins have been on left-handed tracks, five of them have been up to 1200m and he is unbeaten in two starts at Trentham.

Keeninsky was listed as a $6.50 second favourite on the TAB's fixed-odds market yesterday.

He is one of three runners the Autridge-Rogerson combination has in Saturday's race. The stable's other two runners are Pin Up Boy and Manten. Autridge rates Pin Up Boy on a par with Keeninsky, despite that not being reflected in fixed-odds betting with Pin Up Boy at $22.

- NZPA