Horse racing: Two days late and a bridle short no hurdle for filly

Legarto winning the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton on Monday. Photo: Race Images South

Two extra days of waiting were followed by five minutes of stress for Legarto’s supporters before the sensational filly blew her opponents away in the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton today.

Legarto had been a red hot favourite for the $400,000 classic since a stunning win at Te Rapa three weeks ago but an otherwise faultless preparation started to get messy when the majority of the 1000 Guineas meeting was postponed on Saturday, a slippery track pushing the last nine races back to today.

That saw co-trainer Ken Kelso severely admonish both Riccarton and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing for the track condition and his sense of humour wouldn’t have improved in the minutes before today’s group 1.

After parading quietly Legarto started to get agitated around at the start and after refusing to walk toward the starting gates broke her bridle when being cajoled forward.

She was skilfully controlled by the starting gate attendants as jockey Ryan Elliot had to dismount and after her bridle was replaced, which is again less than ideal, Legarto still shied away from he gates.

It was an agonizing watch for her connections but also the army of Futures punters who had backed her because another minute or so of recalcitrance could have seen her late scratched and that would have meant Futures punter did they money cold.
Tote and final field punters get refunded if a horse is late scratched but had Legarto missed the race it would have put an ugly exclamation mark on the whole debacle of a weekend.

As it was she eventually strode into the gates unperturbed and while she was slow away Elliot was able to secure a three-wide cart into the race on the back of Best Seller.

After all that mucking around the time had come for Legarto to show everybody what is under her hood and with little encouragement from Elliot she exploded, racing clear to win by four and three-quarter lengths, one of the greatest winners of our most important fillies’ race.

The reality is if Elliot had asked her to let down earlier she might have won by eight lengths as she ranks right up with the most exciting early season fillies we have seen race in New Zealand in decades, with the most obvious recent champion filly Probabeel having never raced here in the spring of her season.

Elliot’s calmness during the pre-race shenanigans should not be under-estimated while Kelso finally got his first 1000 Guineas after having had no luck in the race before, a fact that might have been playing on his mind when Legarto was being so unhelpful pre-start.

His thoughts quickly turned to wife and training partner Bev who could not make the trip to Riccarton to see the remarkable filly because of recent poor health.

Kelso suggests Legarto may now be set for the $1million Karaka Classic Mile, to be held at Pukekohe as a one-off, on January 21, where she is likely to clash with Sarten Memorial winner Wild Night, who was allowed to miss Cup week.

After than Australia may beckon for Legarto who seems to get better with every start and with her ability to win left and right-handed and to on surfaces from good to heavy she should find suitable targets wherever the Kelsos and her connections want.

Her victory capped a stunning week for his sire Proisir, who also sired Pier to win the 2000 Guineas nine days earlier and is also the sire of Levante, who is trained by the Kelsos and races for some of the same owners as Legarto.

The 1000 Guineas might have been two days and an extra five minutes late, but it was worth the wait.