By Adam Hamilton
Jason Lee thought he had the Garrards NZ Trotting Derby won when he saw the look on his mother’s face the day before the race.
“When Mum (Marg Lee) first saw her (Keayang Zahara) when she got back across, she said she looked like a different filly,” Lee said.
“Antti (Ruokonen, travelling foreman) said the thing and then when you throw-in hearing back from the team at stables that Mark (Purdon) thought she worked really well in her last hit out and it can’t help but give you a lot of confidence.”
They were all right with Keayang Zahara humiliating her rivals by eight lengths – the same margin she won The Ascent by – and stretching her unbeaten record to 14 races in last night’s Derby.
It was also her seventh Group 1 win.
“I’d say it was a week of two halves,” Lee admitted. “We were deliberately very easy on her, maybe a bit too easy, between the slot race and the Oaks, but we always had this Derby in mind.
“The Oaks was the first time she didn’t feel invincible in the run, so we knew we had to do things differently before the Derby.
“We put a lot more work into her. It’s the most we’ve had her screwed down, but it was her Grand Final.
“I was a bit anxious early in the week, but as every day went on and I saw how she was thriving, I felt more confident.
“By race day, I really thought we had her better than ever and went there expecting she would win.
“Yes, there was some relief because I really think she deserved to go through this three-year-old season unbeaten, but there was excitement, too.”
After a midrace challenge from outsider Countless Questions, Lee decided to cut Keayang Zahara loose at the 600m.
“She was getting a bit keen because the other horse had been at her, but she was also travelling super well, so I just let her go a bit,” Lee said.
Keayang Zahara blasted down the back in 27.7sec and instantly had key rivals Father Time and Empire City struggling.
She then coasted clear with little urging from Lee to run a 28.7sec last quarter (making is a 56.4sec last half) and won as she liked.
“It’s like it was meant to be tonight,” Lee said. “Glen (Craven, cousin) and his wife, Erin, welcome their little boy Hugh in the world in the early hours of Friday … it just felt right she came out and won like that.
“She means the world to me, to all of us. It’s cool so many of the family, Mum and Dad and the uncles were here for it.
“We’re just lads from the bush given an incredible opportunity by our family to train some great horses and succeed.
“It also started with Nan and Pop and to see the happiness on the face on all the family who were here is what it’s all about.
“The messages I’ve received, the people I’d never met coming up to me over here to talk about her … it’s nine months I’ll never forget in my life.”
Keayang Zahara heads home now for a spell, but it’s unclear yet how long that will be.
What seems most likely is a decent break, which would rule out races like the Great Southern Star and TAB Trot at Cambridge,
Logically, the Brisbane Inter Dominion in July could be Keayang Zahara’s first major target next year.
