About the same time Bailey Smith runs out onto the MCG to face Collingwood on Saturday night, his equine namesake will be chasing more Group 1 glory at Sydney’s home of harness racing, Menangle.
Terang’s Lee and Craven clan love naming their horses after footy stars, mostly Geelong players, and Keayang Bazlenka is one of the latest.
They must like Smith because they picked a young star to brand with his nickname.
Keayang Bazlenka is one of Australia’s most exciting young trotters with seven starts for six wins and a second.
Some say he could be the stable’s heir apparent to their champion mare Keayang Zahara.
Keayang Bazlenka has already won twice at Group 1 level late last year in the Vicbred and Breeders Crown finals.
The gelding hasn’t raced since the Breeders Crown win on December 12, but showed he was primed by beating star open class mare Jilliby Dreamlover in a Terang trial on April 21.
“We entered him for two lead-up races, but neither of them went ahead so that’s why he’s going into a big race like this first-up,” co-trainer Paddy Lee said.
“We’ll just have to go on that really strong trial at Terang where he beat Jilliby Dreamlover on his merits by a couple of metres and she’s come out and run two great races in open class since. It’s a pretty good pointer.
“Unlike a lot of our horses, he was just a natural two-year-old and that’s why we raced him so much last season. He hasn’t grown much, so we’re interested to see how he goes on with it.”
Keayang Bazlenka leads the Victorian raiders rolling into Menangle for a second consecutive week.
Last week Victorians won two of the four Menangle Group 1’s with Arrhythmia in the NSW Oaks and Rockinwithattitude in the Macarthur Mile.
Saturday night’s Menangle card has just the one Group 1, but six of the nine runners in the $75,000 NSW Trotters’ Derby have made the trip up from Victoria.
Keayang Bazlenka and the Jess Tubbs-trained Howdy Mate look like the class factors of the race.
Howdy Mate boasts powerhouse owners in harness media star Brittany Graham, top US trainer Nancy Takter and Michelle Crawford of the giant Crawford Farms racing and breeding empire in the US.
Victorians have dominated the Derby in recent years, winning eight of the past nine, including Keayang Bazlenka’s champion stablemate Keayang Zahara in 2024.
Last year’s Derby winner, the Glenn Hunter-trained Gatesys Gem, returns to the scene of that triumph to open her 2026 season.
She joins the Mark and Paddy Lee-trained Imperial Monarch to give Victoria two key chances in another feature, the Bulli Trotters’ Cup.
