"She went just okay. She's been a bit disappointing," Bev Kelso says.
Blinkers tend to perk up horses, especially if they start becoming lackadaisical with the onset of age.
Xanadu hasn't performed this year and isn't likely to rattle the cage today from barrier 10, let alone put the heat on favourite I Do, who won the Makfi Challenge here a fortnight ago in the first meeting of the Bay spring trilogy.
The mare's body language also failed to find traction with Coleman, who has opted to jump into the saddle of the Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained Costume in barrier eight.
"Yes, he [Coleman] was disappointed as well but the redeeming horse he's got [Costume] will carry on to other big races and Xanadu won't," Kelso says.
Xanadu was equally underwhelming in the Makfi Challenge last month.
The mare finished third in the Foxbridge Plate in 2012 before finishing second to Ocean Park in the Makfi Stakes at Hastings and third in the Windsor Park Plate. Last year she was runner-up to Postmans Daughter in the Foxbridge Plate before failing in the Makfi only to bounce back to win the Windsor Park Plate.
"That's racing and that's how it goes," Kelso says, adding it's the nature of the beast and they bore no grudges against Coleman.
"The jockey gives you a reason and it's fair enough so there's no hard feelings about it."
Danielle Johnson has gleefully accepted the ride on Xanadu.
"She's just pleased to be in a group one race," the trainer explains when asked if the jockey had any qualms about riding the journeyman horse.
Frustration isn't the word the Kelsos prefer to use in trying to comprehend Xanadu's lack of vigour.
A sense of exasperation only kicks in when a top race beckons and the tracks don't suit or the horse is drawn too wide out at the barriers or it doesn't get a good run on the course.
"Hey, they are animals so they can't win all the time."
The owners - Wessel van der Scheer, John Gilbert (Wellington) and son Mike Gilbert (Sydney) representing the Block Partnership syndicate - are likely to serve her in the spring, giving her a last go through until the end of summer, although they'll harbour hopes of an Australian black-type before that.
As a husband-and-wife project surely Kelso must have something to tell Ken today.
"He'll just have to go down and repeat last year's effort," she says with a laugh.
"We do live together so we bounce ideas off each other quite a bit. Two heads are always better than one."
The Kelsos will no doubt have another 6-year-old mare in their sights - Pussy O'Reilly who is in the radar of the TAB wallahs.
The daughter of Octapussy (Australia) will have Kelly Myers in the saddle and will spring out of barrier 13.
"We've been a bit lucky to have two," Kelso says but you somehow get the impression she doesn't want to divulge too much information on Pussy O'Reilly for fear of putting the hex on her.
Kelso again won't be in Hastings today because she has been a little under the weather coming out of winter and finds travelling from Matamata somewhat taxing but she'll be glued to the TV.
The couple prefer not to train more than 16 horses at a time to ensure they have a better rapport and impact.
They have owned horses but don't have any now because it's too costly to own a property, pay staff and feed the animals.
The glitz and glamour, a jovial Kelso reckons, belong to the jockeys who just need a car and "a bit of gear" to pick up lucrative pay cheques.
While equally adept in everything equine who has had the rub of the green as trainer?
More laughter, then she replies: "We talk to each other all day [on race days] but we won't go down that track."
Okay, if there's a difference in opinion than who has the last say?
"Maybe I do. Yes, I often do and I can't say it always works."
The Kelso-trained Bounding, with Mark Du Plessis in the saddle, won the group three HB Breeders Gold Trail Stakes last year.
Du Plessis also rode the couple's Traveller to victory in the 2000m Hastings Heart of HB Premier.
