Kiwi filly Alabama Lass shines in Flemington sprint victory

Alabama Lass ridden by Craig Williams wins the HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic at Flemington. Photo / Pat Scala, Racing Photos

The Kiwi love affair with the Flemington straight sprints continued when Alabama Lass was simply too fast in her A$500,000 Australian debut on Saturday.

The flying filly, trained by Ken and Bev Kelso at Matamata, jumped straight to the lead and was never headed over 1100m in the listed World Pool Stakes, her first start in the country where she was born.

After a dynamic summer here, the three-year-old beat some of Australia’s most promising young sprinters in a race that has held up as a major open sprint future form guide in recent years.

That will have the Kelsos and their owners dreaming of what spring may bring.

Alabama Lass has the raw speed to be competitive anywhere in the world and, if all goes well, she could head back to Melbourne in the spring and chase the ultimate prize, an Australian Group 1 sprint win.

That campaign would also give her plenty of time to return home as our first Group 1 over 1200m isn’t until the New Year.

By winning down the famed Flemington straight, she joins other Kiwi glamour girls Roch N Horse and Imperatriz, who have both won Group 1s down there in recent years as New Zealand has undergone the most unexpected sprinting renaissance.

If Alabama Lass fills out in the spelling paddock she now heads to, she could join those mares as a top-level sprinter in Australia, with an extra 20kg of muscle handy armour to be carrying at the most elite level.

“That was very satisfying,” said Kelso, who won the Australian Guineas at Flemington two years ago with Legarto.

“It may have only been a Listed race, but it was A$500,000 and a notable form race, and it opens doors for us to potentially come back here,” he told the Herald.

“She handled the travel so well and it was great to have Craig Williams [jockey] on because he took care of the rest.

“I was asking him about which side of the track will be faster and things like that before the race and he looked me straight in the eye and said ‘just trust your filly, Ken.‘

“We will get her home and let her rest while we think about things. I have already had somebody ring me inquiring about her going to the Quokka in Perth, but that wouldn’t be the right thing for her.

“The only disappointment is that Bev can’t be here because her health, because she is still a huge part of the stable. She is my eyes and ears.”

Elsewhere, Rosehill’s meeting on Saturday was called off because of heavy rain and will now be held on Tuesday.

That throws plans into disarray for horses hoping to race yesterday and then next Saturday as there will now only be four days between the two meetings.

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.