Ken and Bev Kelso have a knack for unearthing quality fillies, and they may have another one on their hands in Levakia, who broke through for her maiden win in impressive fashion in the Dunstan Horsefeeds 1400 at Pukekohe Park on Wednesday.
She was only fair away and drifted back to sit at the rear of the field for jockey Sam Spratt, where they remained throughout. Turning for home, the pair had all before them, but Spratt was able to navigate a path through the pack and Levakia quickly gained momentum, hitting the lead with 100m to go, extending with every stride to score by 1-1/2 lengths.
The three-year-old daughter of Proisir was purchased by Ancroft Stud's Philip and Catherine Brown out of Curraghmore's 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Online Yearling Sale draft for $105,000 and carries their familiar colours which have been made famous in recent years by stable predecessors Levante and Legarto.
Levakia placed in all three of her previous starts and was duly backed into $1.80 favouritism on Wednesday, and while punters had their hearts in their mouths at the top of the straight, their faith was rewarded with a comfortable win.
Ken Kelso was rapt to get the result and wasn't fazed by the deficit his filly had to make up down the straight.
"I knew she would finish off, she has always done that in her races," he said. "It was good to get that win out of the way.
"I did the wrong thing at Te Rapa by putting a hood on her and she overraced, so I took it off today. She has got a lot to learn, she is still very green. She has got a lot of ability, but she has taken a while to put it all together."
The Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), for which stablemate Alabama Lass is a $3 equal favourite with Captured By Love in the TAB Futures Market, remain a possibility, although Kelso said realistically it may come up too soon.
"She is still in the 1000 Guineas at Christchurch, but my feeling is that she probably has a bit too much to learn for that," he said. "Hopefully there are stakes races in the future for her as a three-year-old filly. I think she has got a lot of growing to do too, she is a big filly."
Spratt was also impressed with the performance of Levakia, and she is excited about her prospects for late summer and autumn racing.
"She has still got plenty more there, she is still learning what the game is all about," Spratt said. "She is a pretty exciting filly once she gets up over further.
"After Christmas, in those March meetings, that is where she will be hitting her stride. She is lovely filly."
Meanwhile, Kelso said Alabama Lass is on track to head to Riccarton next month for the 1000 Guineas via the Gr.2 Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday week.
"She has come through the race well, she had a nice trial at Matamata," he said. "She is on track. She is eating well and doing everything right. We are looking forward to going to the Soliloquy at Auckland."
