Keayang Zahara has all the makings of a generationally great trotter.
We are blessed to have her come along straight after the retirement of the mighty Just Believe, who did so much for trotting, in this part of the world and beyond with the huge international following he gained during his Swedish campaign in 2023.
Keayang Zahara has the talent and potential to do the same.
But the Lee and Craven clan will bide their time.
Jason Lee admits the family has sat around the table and talked about the Elitlopp and other possible international adventures.
If she takes the step into open class the way all expects, the offers will come from everywhere.
They are definitely on the radar, but not in the next 12 months or so.
Excitingly for trotting fans in this part of the world, the focus is on winning some major Down Under races and building the young mare’s experience before trying to conquer the world.
“For all the talent she’s shown and things she’s done, apart from the Bill Collins Sprint, she really hasn’t raced or won anything of genuine open class as yet,” Lee said.
“We won’t look at Sweden or anything like that next year. If we’re still having this conversation in 12 months and she’s dominating, then we’ll think seriously about it.
“For all the nice trotters we’ve had and have now, we still haven’t won the big races. Apart from the Hammerhead (Mile), we haven’t won a big one yet.
“Paddy (Lee) and I were chatting the other day about how much we’d love to win a Great Southern Star or an Inter Dominion.
“Those mean a lot. They are our targets with Zahara and Ballerini, at least for now.
“You look at someone like Andy Gath, who’s had so many top trotters, and he’s won five Great Southern Stars.
“We’re just starting out when you look at that.
“Paddy was saying how much he’d love to win the Great Southern Star. We sort of felt last year was the one that got away with Keayang Chucky. He ran third two years ago and it was great, but we felt he was better and ready to win it this year and got so close, but ran third again.
“It’s a huge target for us.”
After much deliberation, the clan have decided to chase Keayang Zahara’s ninth Group 1 win in Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Great Square at Albion Park.
It’s fair to say it should be a walk in the park if she brings her A-game.
Then it’s back home for the six-race trotting series through the Summer of Glory in Victoria from January 10 to February 14.
It starts with the Group 1 Maori Mile at Bendigo.
Any trotter who can four legs will bank a $500,000 bonus, but it must include the hardest and biggest leg, the $250,000 Group 1 Great Southern Star on February 14.
The new series got another boost over the weekend when former Inter Dominion winner The Locomotive returned to racing with an easy win at Menangle. It was his first start since returning from a mid-year Swedish raid.
Beyond the Victorian series, Keayang Zahara’s targets will be the $100,000 Group 1 Hammerhead Mile is at Menangle, $NZ600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge in March (Victorians have won the past two in Just Believe and Arcee Phoenix) in March and the $500,000 Brisbane Inter Dominion series at Albion Park in July.
While the trotters have taken all the limelight in Team Lee in recent times, Jason Lee openly admits a want to get pacers into the biggest races, too.
“That’s a must, especially for me,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the trotters, but we’ve got a lot of pacers and need to get some of them through to the Group 1 races.
“We had that success with the likes of Jilliby Kung Fu and Jilliby Nitro, but we’ve learnt from them and have developed a whole new training set-up with the track and pool now.
“We’ve got some nice pacers at home and some really well bred ones coming through, like a sister to Marketplace (NZ’s star three-year-old), by Bettors Delight.
“We’ve got a really good opinion of Keayang Hollywood, too. He’s won five of six, but has a few issues.”
