Group 2 next for Alabama Lass
Co-trainer Ken Kelso was impressed with Alabama Lass’ debut victory yesterday and said the filly would return to Matamata later this month for the Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on February 24.
“She was very impressive,” he said. “She jumped well and then Sam [Spratt, jockey] said she relaxed when she got to the front and did it easily. Hopefully, all going well and she pulls up okay, we will come back here for the Breeders’ in two-and-a-half weeks time.”
While enamoured with the filly from the beginning, Kelso said her precocity has taken him a bit by surprise.
“When we bought her in Melbourne as a yearling, I didn’t think she would make a two-year-old, but she has surprised us and has kept progressing,” he said.
“She is actually not bred to be a two-year-old. She is a half to Bad ‘n’ Bouj and a few in her family have raced up to 1400 metres and a mile. It will be interesting. As she develops, she will probably be wanting to go further.
“Even looking at her now, she is still quite frail, but she has obviously got a lot of ability and she will definitely get better with age.”
Alabama Lass was purchased at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale the day after Kelso’s stable star Legarto (Proisir) landed the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington.
“I had an order to buy one at Karaka. I went to Karaka and got blown out of the water,” Ken Kelso said. “Everything that I liked, everyone else seemed to have more money. I then said to the owners, ‘I couldn’t find anything here I really liked that we could buy within our budget’, which was $140,000, I said ‘let’s look around Melbourne’.
“Dean Hawthorne has done a lot of work for us over the years and he did a short-list of about 30. I fell in love with this filly and we were lucky to get her for AU$120,000, which was within our budget.”
Alabama Lass announced herself as a filly to follow when she won her first trial in October, beating subsequent Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) winner Velocious (Written Tycoon).