Legarto survives pre-race scare to sparkle in 1,000 Guineas at Riccarton
Filly secures a Classic double for high-flying Rich Hill Stud sire Proisir, who has won three of first five Group 1 races of the season
Yesterday’s 50th running of the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) was expected to be a procession for hot favourite Legarto – and indeed it was – but not without providing an almighty pre-race scare for connections, with the talented filly displaying a stubbornness to load and breaking her bridle behind the barriers.
Yet for all her misdemeanours in the minutes leading into the Classic, the star daughter of Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir (Choisir) was sublime during it, stretching her unbeaten run to four with a dynamite performance to win by nearly five lengths.
Proving difficult to load, her rivals were unloaded after the filly’s bridle snapped, and she again showed a fractiousness in the barriers before the field were eventually sent on their way.
The Ken and Bev Kelso-trained Legarto did not break smoothly, settling third-last under Ryan Elliot and travelling keenly in the early stages. But, ridden like the best horse in the race, the $1.35 favourite streaked clear down the centre of the track with 200 metres to run, and cantered away for a wide-margin success.
Best Seller (Wrote), winner of the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) in September, finished best of the rest in second, while Blue Solitaire (Almanzor) trailed home more than seven lengths from the winner in third.
“I aged about ten years with the drama at the start,” Ken Kelso said. “It’s a big relief, and I don’t want to go through that again. I’m glad it’s all over.”
“She’s a pretty special filly I think. She has an electrifying turn of foot.”
The result continues the sensational run for Proisir, who has claimed three of the first five Group 1 races in New Zealand of the new season, and completes a Guineas double, with Pier having won the 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) earlier this month.
It is the second successive year that both the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas have been won by horses by the same sire, with Savabeel’s (Zabeel) Noverre and The Perfect Pink having won last season’s contests.
With victory for Legarto, Proisir, who is standing for a fee $17,500 (plus GST) in his eighth season at John Thompson’s Rich Hill Stud, sired his fourth individual Group 1 winner. He has nine stakes winners from 204 runners.
The stallion currently leads the New Zealand sire premiership by nearly $800,000 from his nearest rival, with his progeny having amassed $1,338,225 in prize-money, a figure just $460,000 shy of his total for the entirety of last season.
Kelso, who said Legarto would be sent for a spell before targeting the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (RL, 1600m) in January, paid tribute to his wife, Bev, who was unable to be trackside yesterday due to illness, as the couple earned their first triumph in the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas, banishing memories of an odds-on defeat for Bounding (Lonhro) in 2013.
“It’s a huge result, it’s just a pity she’s not here to witness it,” Kelso said. “We’ve been a team for a long time, we’ve been training together for 40-odd years, but I’m sure she got a hell of a lot of excitement and relief, like I did, after that.”
Elliot, who has ridden Legarto in all but one of her career victories, said he was yet to hit top gear on the three-year-old.
“We got a really nice position from the gate. I just elected to slot three wide, just to get to the better ground as well, and when Best Seller came out to meet me, to get a bit of cover on the back of her, especially with that head-on wind in the straight.
“She was just absolutely trotting and sensational. She’s something else, isn’t she?”
Legarto races in the same colours as dual Group 1 winner Levante, who is also by Proisir, and finished fourth in the Champions Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) at Flemington earlier this month.
Among the ownership group in both horses is former Waikato Racing Club chief executive Tony Enting.
“We didn’t need all the nerve-wracking experience beforehand,” he said. “She generally is a very placid sort of horse and we weren’t expecting that.
“The nerves were getting worse and worse all the time, but she did the job.
“We made a point of never comparing Legarto with Levante, because Levante’s up there still, but this girl’s catching up. We’re just thrilled.”
Legarto (3 f ex Geordie Girl by Towkay), who won the Soliloquy Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) on her previous start by three lengths, was a $90,000 buy for Phillip Brown’s Ancroft Stud from the Highline Thoroughbreds draft at the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
She is the eighth, and just the third named, foal out of the stakes–performed mare Georgie Girl (Towkay), herself a half-sister to Listed winner Kekova (Elusive City) and a sister to Rapid Kay, who also twice placed at Group 1 level and finished tenth in the New Zealand 1,000 Guineas.
Geordie Girl was not served in 2019 or 2020, but was covered by Proisir last year. The 19-year-old mare has now been retired from stud duties.
Prosir has four lots on offer at this week’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale.
Yesterday’s delayed 1,000 Guineas raceday was the result of Saturday’s fixture at Riccarton being abandoned after race three, during which a horse slipped rounding the corner into the home straight.
It was subsequently found that excess moisture was present in the turf, believed to be caused by excessively long grass. The decision at Riccarton on Saturday followed the abandonment of racing at Awapuni on Friday after a horse slipped.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing subsequently announced emergency meetings on Sunday and yesterday with major clubs and regional track advisors, while also requesting comprehensive reports from both the Canterbury Jockey Club and RACE Inc, owners of Awapuni racecourse. The outcomes of which are yet to be released.