From mudbath to super sprint: Alabama Lass picking path to Sistema Railway

Alabama Lass is arguably New Zealand's fastest horse. Photo / Kenton Wright

Sloshing around in the Te Aroha mud is hardly the ideal build-up to our most glamorous sprint race.

But co-trainer Ken Kelso said it served the purpose of moving Alabama Lass one step closer to the $700,000 Sistema Railway at Ellerslie on January 24.

Arguably New Zealand’s fastest horse, Alabama Lass hasn’t raced since a below-par performance in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes at The Valley in Melbourne on September 24, when it is suspected she choked down.

Before that she was a brave second in another Group 1 at the Valley, the Moir Stakes, and she looks the best local chance of fighting off the Australian raiders Jigsaw and Arkansaw Kid in the Railway on Karaka Millions night.

Kelso, who trains with his wife Bev, isn’t worried about heading into the Railway without a race in four months but admits he would have liked a better track for Alabama Lass’ exhibition gallop at Te Aroha last Saturday.

The meeting was decimated by scratchings after the track was reduced to a Heavy 10 but Kelso pressed ahead with the gallop even though it became a bit of a non-event.

“I decided to still go there to give her a day out and a trip away in the truck,” he said.

“But I told Lynsey [Satherley] to hold on to her and they really only ended up doing three-quarter pace.

“It was nobody’s fault the way the track came up, you can’t control the weather, but I almost wish I had taken her to Tauranga the day before.”

While Alabama Lass didn’t get a chance to fully spin her wheels on Saturday she still looked fit and stronger than last season when she looked like she could do with 20-30kg more muscle on her lithe frame.

“She has got a bit bigger and stronger and we are pleased with her work at home so we will get a better line on her this Sunday,” said Kelso.

That is when Alabama Lass contests an 1100m trial for black-type horses at the Ellerslie meeting, her only official hit out between now and the Railway.

Satherley is likely to ride her again in the trial while Craig Williams, who won a A$500,000 race on her in Melbourne last March, is confirmed to take the ride in the Railway.

With in-form Victorian gallopers Jigsaw and Arkansaw Kid confirmed to come to Ellerslie for the super sprint, Alabama Lass has been relegated to $5 equal second favourite for the Railway, in which she finished second to Crocetti last season.

While Alabama Lass heads to Ellerslie her big-time stablemate Legarto will travel further afield with Kelso confirming she will take her place in the $500,000 Harcourts Thorndon Mile at Trentham on Saturday week.

“I spoke to Bruce Sherwin [NZTR handicapper] and he says we will get 58kg, which seems like a fair enough weight so she will start there,” said Kelso.

“If she doesn’t race in that it will be five weeks between the Zabeel Classic and the Herbie Dyke and she’d look pregnant by then.

“Ryan [Elliot] can ride her because he took a suspension he got at Trentham on Saturday straight away so he will be back by then.”

While 58kg sounds a lot of weight in an open handicap 1600m, and one that is rarely carried to victory these days, Legarto is rated nine points higher than any of her rivals in a race almost devoid of other Group 1 winners.

Still, as a 6-year-old mare who now looks best suited to 2000m weight-for-age racing, and with Kelso’s admission she is heading to the Thorndon to keep her fitness up, Legarto’s $3.20 favouritism seems a little on the skinny side.

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.