Chris Lang knows what a star trotter looks like.
The decorated horseman has trained some of Victoria’s best of the modern era like Sundons Gift, Skyvalley and Let Me Thru, who helped him become the “King of trotting” at the time.
After a hiatus from the game, he’s been back in training ranks and building over the past few years.
Now he’s got another trotter he believes will take him back into the big races in lightly raced four-year-old mare I Am Wilma.
She stormed to prominence with three wins and two seconds from her last five starts in 2025 and then went for a break.
It was the last of those runs, a monstrous second in the Breeders Crown 3YO fillies’ final, which underlined her potential.
I Am Wilma galloped at the start and lost valuable ground before circling the field to take the lead and only being nabbed late.
She returns from a short break in the last race at Melton on Saturday night and then it’s back into feature racing for the Group 3 Need for Speed at the same track a week later.
Despite Lang admitting she needs the run, I Am Wilma should be too classy for her rivals if she does everything right from gate three on Saturday night.
Then Lang and his training partner Sonia Mahar will get a much better guide where I Am Wilma sits when she faces one of Australia’s best trotters, Jilliby Ballerini, in the Need For Speed.
Jilliby Ballerini is a stablemate of the freakish Keayang Zahara and chased that mare home when second in Australia’s biggest trotting race, the Group 1 Great Southern Star, at Melton last Saturday night.
“I really like this mare. She’s very strong, but she’s still learning and short on ringcraft,” Lang said.
“She’s going straight from racing her own age into these good races, but that’s how it is with the ratings system now.
“She showed she’s still learning last time when she got too keen, which she can do, and galloped at the start.”
Lang thinks so much of I Am Wilma he is already mapping out an interstate raid later this year.
“If she keeps going in the right direction, we’ll go to Queensland for the (Group 1) Great Square at Albion Park, which they’ve moved from December back to July,” he said.
Keayang Zahara won the Great Square last December before stretching her record to 25 wins from 26 starts, including 13 at Group 1 level.
Lang has been as impressed with Marg and Paddy Lee’s handling of Keayang Zahara as much as her stunning emergence.
“They managed and placed her so well and she’s built that amazing record which puts her up with the greats,” he said.
“We’ll know more about just how good she is in the next few months if the likes of Gus, The Locomotive and even this French horse (Kristal Josselyn) are all in the same race.”
Lang took Sundons Gift to the iconic Elitlopp trot in Sweden in 2009, a race which has been touted for Keayang Zahara in May, next year.
“I’m glad they’re not going this year. It’s a heck of a hard race and she’ll benefit from more racing and experience here,” he said.
Keayang Zahara’s next run will be Saturday week’s Group 1 Grand Prix at Melton.
