Multiple Group One winner Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) will make her long-awaited return to racing when she heads to her home track at Matamata on Saturday to contest the Listed Lisa Chittick Champagne Stakes (1400m).
Last sighted on raceday when sixth in the Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington in March last year, the daughter of Proisir was making pleasing progress towards a spring campaign before she strained a muscle following her trial victory over 900m at Te Rapa last August.
Trainers Ken and Bev Kelso have taken a patient approach with her return, with her first public appearance of the year being in an exhibition gallop at Tauranga last week prior to her resuming run on Saturday.
“I would have preferred to have gone to a trial, but I didn’t think there were any suitable trials to go to, so she had a good exhibition gallop at Tauranga and Ryan (Elliot, jockey) came and rode her and he came over again on Wednesday morning and gave her the thumbs up,” Ken Kelso said.
While pleased with his mare ahead of Saturday, Kelso is realistic with his expectations following an extended period away from the track.
“She hasn’t raced for a long time, she hasn’t raced since the Australian Cup this time last year, so she could be vulnerable first-up, but she is forward enough,” he said.
All going well after Saturday, a return to Ellerslie could be on the cards for an elite-level target.
“It is just one race at a time, but the obvious one is three weeks later to the Thoroughbred Breeders (Gr.1, 1600m) at Ellerslie (on March 8), but we are just taking one race at a time and we will just get through Saturday and plan from there.”
Stablemate Alabama Lass is also on track to head to Champions Day, where she will target the Gr.3 Haunui Farm King’s Plate (1200m) before a possible Australian campaign.
The Kelsos have fond memories of competing at Flemington, with Legarto winning the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at the Melbourne track two years ago, and they are keen to test her younger stablemate’s talent across the Tasman in the Listed HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic (1100m) on March 29.
“She is heading to the King’s Plate at Ellerslie and then we will decide after that where we go from there,” Kelso said. “We have got an option of maybe going to Flemington to an 1100m three-year-old race on Australian Cup Day, but we will get through Auckland first.”
The daughter of Alabama Express has been a standout on the track since winning on debut by 9-1/2 lengths at Matamata last February. She has added a further three victories to her record, including the Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), and has been runner-up in her three other starts, including the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), Gr.1 Railway (1200m), and Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), accruing more than $466,000 in prizemoney.