There was as much relief as excitement when Keayang Zahara romped home and banked a $500,000 bonus in the Group 1 Great Southern Star.
Co-trainer Paddy Lee conceded it had been a stressful road to banking the bonus and landing the most significant win of his family’s career so far.
“That was a long six weeks,” he sighed. “I’m glad it’s over and she got the job done.”
Keayang Zahara, who boasts 25 wins from 26 starts, set-up bonus tilt by winning three key lead-up races, the Maori Mile, along with the Ballarat and Cranbourne Trotters’ Cups.
Along with the $500,000 bonus, she banked another $153,900 for her heat and final wins last night.
“We’re glad we had the three wins and could skip Kilmore to give us two weeks into tonight,” Lee said.
Keayang Zahara cruised home in the first of the two Great Southern Star heats in a very cosy 1min58.2sec mile rate for 1720m, beating stablemate Jilliby Ballerini, who sat outside her.
Another of the Marg and Paddy Lee-trained mares, Jilliby Dreamlover, led throughout to win the second heat.
Rivals were dealt a mortal blow in the final when Jilliby Dreamlover, Jilliby Ballerini and Keayang Zahara drew barriers one, two and three respectively.
As expected, Jilliby Balllerini crossed Jilliby Dreamlover at the start and then took a trail on Keayang Zahara.
That’s how they finished with Keayang Zahara winning by 8.7m over Jilliby Ballerini, with another 8.1m away to Jilliby Dreamlover.
“She’s just a freak this mare, next level,” driver Jason Lee said. “Any queries I had about backing up for two runs in a night were gone as soon as I got out on the track to warm-up for the final.
“You dream of being in these big races let alone winning them. You see others win them and think how cool it would be to do it one day.
“I’m really happy for Marg (Lee) and Paddy more than myself. They’ve been trying to win this race for five or six years now.”
Asked about the bonus, Jason Lee said: “Money isn’t everything, but we’ll have a decent party with that money.”
Now comes planning for the next few months with the stable of trotting stars.
“First thing is back here in two weeks where I’d say Keayang Zahara will run in the Grand Prix and there is a mares race for (Ballerini),” Paddy Lee said.
“I don’t think we’ll take any of them to Menangle. It’s a really tough race on them the Hammerhead Mile (March 14).
“Cambridge is where we’ll take two. Zahara will be one and we’ll decide closer to it whether Ballerini or Dreamlover is the other one.”
The Cambridge feature is the $NZ600,000 TAB Trot, won by Just Believe and Arcee Phoenix over the past two years.
“There are some other big races in NZ after Cambridge, but we’ll get through Cambridge and then make a call on if we stay over there longer,” Paddy Lee said.
