Champion trotting mare Keayang Zahara has been sidelined by injury and won’t race again this year.
In a cruel twist, the five-year-old was just away from a trial in preparation for chasing a record-breaking 16th Group 1 win in the Bill Collins Sprint at Melton on October 17.
Co-trainers Marg and Paddy Lee discovered Keayang Zahara had a slight ligament strain after workout on Wednesday morning.
It also rules out a planned trip to NZ in November for the $NZ500,000 Group 1 Dominion Trot at Addington on November 10.
Paddy Lee told HRNZ the injury was not serious, but would require the mare to have “six to eight weeks” of rest.
That timing also raises doubts over major Victorian summer races like the Group 1 Great Southern Star, which Keayang Zahara won so brilliantly last year.
Keayang Zahara has been ranked up with the greatest trotters Australasian has produced.
Amazingly, she has only been beaten once (when she ran second) in 29 starts.
Her 15 Group 1 wins have her equal with former Kiwi great Lyell Creek on the most Group 1 wins by an Australasian trotter.
The setback closes a frustrating year where Keayang Zahara raced just seven times for as many wins, but not since an effortless victory in the huge TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 10.
Connections opted to bypass the Brisbane Inter Dominion series last month to focus on a huge finish to this year and a string of feature races early in 2027.
Just this week, Paddy Lee had spoken about the possibility of taking Keayang Zahara to one of the world’s great races, the Elitlopp, in Stockholm, Sweden next year.
While she should be back racing by then, the setback and crucial racing she will miss over the next four to five months, makes that trip far less likely.
* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
