Racing: Levante on top again with win in Telegraph

Ryan Elliot salutes after Levante wins the Telegraph. Photo / Race Images

Champion sprinting mare Levante returned to the scene of her inaugural Group 1 victory yesterday and made it back-to-back triumphs in the Telegraph after another titanic struggle in the home straight.

Last year, it was subsequent dual Australian Group 1 winner Roch ‘N’ Horse that went within a nose of victory over 1200m against the Ken and Bev Kelso-trained horse, while this year, it was last-start Group 1 Railway runner-up Babylon Berlin who went to war with her in the closing stages.

After travelling sweetly outside pacemaker Packing Rockstar, jockey Kozzi Asano had Babylon Berlin cuddled up in front with 300m to run as he waited for the finishing charge of Levante.

He was not disappointed as Levante burst into the clear wider out for Ryan Elliot and launched her sprint which quickly took her up to the leader.

The pair went head-to-head for the final 250m, with Levante gaining the upper hand in the last few strides to win by a neck, with outsider Iffndoubtgetout third, a further five lengths back.

An emotional Ken Kelso paid tribute to his charge along with his wife Bev, who has been battling ill health, but managed to make the trip to Trentham from Matamata.

“She wants to give you a heart attack every year,” Kelso said of Levante. “It’s very special that Bev came, as she hasn’t been that well, so to make the trip down here is very special.”

Bev Kelso was in awe of the strength of the five-year-old who has now won at the elite level on three occasions.

“She never goes a bad race and she sure does make it exciting.”

Levante is now likely to have a few days in the paddock before returning to Te Rapa on February 11 to defend her title in the Group 1 Sprint (1400m).

Elliot was also brimming with pride after securing the win aboard Levante.

“It was a little bit different this year, as we had to sit back on the inside and then make our luck,” he said.

“Once she got out into the clear and gets rolling, she is really just so strong through the line.

“This is great for me to win another Group 1 and I’m just so glad I can do it for Bev and Ken and all the team.”

●Having shown a glimpse of real promise in his first preparation, a bigger and better Cognito announced his arrival among New Zealand’s three-year-old ranks in the Group 2 Wellington Guineas (1400m), aided by an extraordinary ride from Opie Bosson.

Scratched from an intended resuming run at Taupō on December 30, Cognito instead took a fresh-up tilt at the Guineas, and rose to the occasion with the performance of his career so far.

Sent out as a $3.40 favourite following Friday’s scratching of pre-post favourite Sharp ‘N’ Smart due to a stone bruise, Cognito’s prospects appeared to be getting bleaker with every stride coming down the side of the track. Turning for home, he was way back in third-last and had a wall of horses in front of him.

But Bosson was able to duck, weave and somehow find a way through, and Cognito took care of the rest with a scintillating late burst.

“Luckily for us, they seemed to open up at the right time,” Bosson said. “He’s a very good horse.”

- NZ Racing Desk