It would appear only an upset of mammoth proportions will deny the connections of Keayang Zahara from pocketing the $500,000 Summer Of Glory trotting bonus.
The best trotter in this part of the world thrilled the large Ballarat Cup night crowd when she outclassed her rivals in the Group 2 Ballarat Trotters Cup to record her 22nd win from 23 career starts.
Keayang Zahara left the opposition standing as she backed up a 27.7 back straight quarter with a 26.9 last 400 metres in establishing a track record mile rate of 1:56.8 for the 2200 metre journey.
Driver Jason Lee said he knew his superstar mare was running time.
“We were humming,” Lee said after the race. “Arcee Phoenix was up travelling in the run and talking to Milesy (David Miles) it sounded like his mare (Rockinwithattitude) went pretty good.”
Despite the ease of the win and the track record, Lee indicated Keayang Zahara had something in reserve as she cruised down the home straight.
“I didn’t turn the whip around or anything and she hasn’t had to pop out the plugs yet,” he said.
“I don’t know what the margin was (11 metres) but if she didn’t have a decent hit out tonight then she has to have a solid one during the week. She did it pretty comfortably and definitely had a bit left.”
Keayang Zahara needs to win either the Cranbourne or Kilmore cups and the Great Southern Star Final to snare the lucrative bonus.
“We’ll see how she gets through tonight, but it’s a pretty big carrot they’re dangling and I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t been given plenty of thought. But it’s not an easy feat and we are just taking it one race at a time,” Lee said.
While reluctant to forecast the mare’s long-term agenda, Lee indicated the $600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge in April and the Inter Dominion in Brisbane in July were high on the radar.
Earlier in the night, the Lee outfit’s ‘second stringer’ Jilliby Ballerini was impressive in scoring a soft win in The Delvin Dancer.
Lee bided his time on Jilliby Ballerini, settling midfield in the running line before pulling out with 400 metres to travel. The daughter of Majestic Son then quickly rounded up her rivals, reeling off a 26.86 last quarter.
“She was good and we landed not too far off them and there were some really good horses in the race. She was pretty fast and I just trusted her speed,” he said.
Lee said Jilliby Ballerini has returned in fine fettle following a luckless New Zealand campaign in November.
“She was only a four-year-old and sometimes you worry that it might knock them around a little bit. We are really happy with her and she has come back super, and it’s probably brought her on a bit,” he said.
Lee conceded a clash with Keayang Zahara was inevitable.
“You can call her a second stringer, but in her own right this mare is an absolute jet. She’s a superstar and you can’t go in everything, but we’re lucky that we have two that can go in the big ones,” he said.
Jilliby Dreamlover launched the successful night for the Lee stable when she chalked up her fourth consecutive win in the opening event.
“We’ve always had a high opinion of her and with natural development we thought she’d get better, but she had a few things go wrong with cycle issues last campaign,” he said.
