KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - Trotting sensation One Over Kenny came within days of missing the biggest win of her career in yesterday's Australasian Trotting Championships at Moonee Valley.
The New Zealand mare crushed Australian trotting hero A Touch Of Flair in the A$150,000 ($170,000) event, suggesting she may now be
the best trotter on either side of the Tasman.
She did so after sitting parked for the last lap, buckling Interdominion champion Uncle Petrika at the 800m mark and then racing so far clear at the 400m her biggest danger was her lack of opposition.
With A Touch Of Flair never getting closer than two lengths away at the top of the straight, One Over Kenny started to loaf over the closing stages.
"It wasn't so much she was getting tired as the fact she was starting to loaf," said winning driver Tony Herlihy.
"But it was a great run. To win like that racing into what was a pretty fierce wind was the mark of a good horse."
The win continued the remarkable emergence of Oamaru trainer Phil Williamson, who just five years ago was an unheralded battler but now prepares New Zealand's strongest team of trotters.
But even he admitted yesterday he was lucky to have One Over Kenny in the race.
Williamson decided to give the 5-year-old mare a short spell after her rollercoaster campaign over the northern holiday period and she actually headed to the paddock.
But a friend talked him into changing his mind and setting her for yesterday's race, a decision that has seen her add $120,000 to her stake earnings as well as made her one of the most valuable future broodmares racing in Australasia.
"I had considered the series but then decided against it but was glad to be talked around," said Williamson.
"That was the performance of a really good mare and while I don't like to compare my horses, she might be as good as anything I've trained."
That puts One Over Kenny in elite company as he also trains New Zealand's queen of trotting, Allegro Agitato, and multiple group one winner Jasmyn's Gift.
The modest horseman says the horses have made him rather than him making them.
"A lot of people ask me what has changed in the last five years and the main thing is I am getting better horses to train.
"But also because I have been travelling with those good horses I have stayed with top trainers and learned from them."
Having such an outstanding team of trotters gives Williamson the luxury of now sending One Over Kenny to the spelling paddock.
She will have that short break she was supposed to have last month before being set for the Rowe Cup in May.
That means Williamson can attack the feature races at next month's Auckland Cup carnival with Allegro Agitato, who will appreciate the mobile starting conditions.
As only a five-year-old One Over Kenny looks certain to improve next season and possibly the one after that, which raises the possibility of her developing into a truly great mare.
She came from an unruly second line starting position yesterday so the 10m handicap she has earned for the Rowe Cup is hardly a factor.
And with our major handicaps having a set backmark of 15m and trotters like Allegro Agitato and Delft coming to the end of their careers, she will have too much stamina for most of the remainder of the open class trotting crop.
Yesterday's race exposed the lack of depth in those open class ranks and suggested that the new stars like One Over Kenny, Our Sunny Whiz and Tozzie will rule the roost next season.
The two other Kiwis in the race, Glenbogle and Whatsundermykilt, disappointed, looking tired at the end of a long summer.
Great one
* Kiwi mare One Over Kenny wins the A$150,000 Australasian Trotting Championships at Moonee Valley.
* She produced the trotting performance of the season to crush Aussie star A Touch Of Flair.
* One Over Kenny nearly missed the race after she was sent to the spelling paddock.
* She will now be set for the Rowe Cup.