Yulong based Alabama Express was expected to have G1 success on Saturday with his glamour filly Treasurethe Moment in the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill, but with that meeting postponed due to the weather it was left to Alabama Lass to fly the flag.
Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso have once again come up trumps at Flemington with quality sprinting filly Alabama Lass successful in Saturday’s A$500,000 Listed HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic (1100m).
Two years after landing the Gr.1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at the premier Melbourne track with stablemate Legarto, the astute Kiwi conditioners again plotted a successful hit-and-run with another quality three-year-old.
Ridden by Craig Williams, Alabama Lass showed her customary early speed to lead throughout down the Flemington straight and when challenged dug in to hold off the challenge of Gallant Son and Rich Dottie.
“Full credit to her trainers Bev, who can’t come over today, and Ken Kelso, they do such a great job with these horses,” Williams said.
“She’s really shown how good she is over there (New Zealand) beating one of their best older horses (Crocetti) in the King’s Plate (Gr.3, 1200m), and she’s only a three-year-old filly and I was really fortunate and delighted to get the call up and ride her.”
Williams said the roar of the crowd spurred on the well-supported favourite in the concluding stages.
“It might have been what inspired her too because she went from not spending any energy, I thought, ‘this is perfect, she’ll just pick up’, but she just seemed to be so lost and she wanted competition, she wanted energy from the crowd and that’s obviously what go her over the line in the end,” he said.
Trainer Ken Kelso was delighted to see the filly win in uncomplicated fashion.
“I thought she was stunning. She’s just a very fast filly. She just puts herself there and keeps going, she’s pretty special,” Kelso said.
“She tries really hard and she relaxes early in her races. She’s really fast but she just drops the bit and just lobs along so she doesn’t exert a lot of energy.”
The daughter of Alabama Express will now return to New Zealand to spell before a possible return to Melbourne for sprint targets in the spring.
“We’ll get her home and she deserves a little spell, she’s been up for a while,” Kelso said. “There could be some nice sprint races here (Victoria) in the spring, but we’ll take a breath and just get her home.”
Kelso was keen to acknowledge wife Bev, who couldn’t make the trip across the Tasman but is an integral part of the training partnership.
“It’s a shame Bev can’t make it now, she’d love to have been here like she was Australian Guineas. It’s just a shame she can’t make trips now but I’m sure she gave that couch a bit of a hiding,” Kelso said.
Kelso paid A$120,000 to buy Alabama Lass from the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne in March of 2023, having celebrated Legarto’s Group One triumph a day prior. She is a half-sister to Kiwi Group Three performer Bad 'n' Bouj and is the best of six winners from six to race from Commands mare Tabliope. She was bred by Rifa Mustang and offered in the draft of Shadow Hill Thoroughbreds.
A Group Two winner in her homeland and multiple Group One placed, Alabama Lass is now the winner of six of her nine starts, having finished runner-up on the other three occasions and advanced her career earnings to A$867,360. – NZ Racing Desk
