Keayang Zahara set for first test in open class

The Keayang Zahara (Volstead) team are the other big winners from The Locomotive’s exciting tilt at Sweden’s iconic Elitlopp next month.

Most immediately, the trip means one of Keayang Zahara’s major rivals in her first open-class target – July’s Brisbane Inter Dominion – won’t be there.

It’s not possible to do Sweden and then Brisbane a couple of months later.

Bigger picture, many have already identified the unbeaten and untapped Keayang Zahara as a logical Elitlopp contender next year.

What an ideal template the Keayang Zahara team now gets to watch and potentially follow thanks to The Locomotive’s passionate and wealthy owner, Glenn Holland.

Pleasingly, things have already improved a lot in the two years since the great Just Believe tackled the Elitlopp.

His 60-plus hours of travel to get from Melbourne to Stockholm will come down close to just 40 hours for The Locomotive.

The biggest chunks come from a 17-hour road trip from Amsterdam to Stockholm being removed by three hours on the road to Paris and then a short flight from there to Stockholm.

The Locomotive still has a busy few months ahead with an NZ raid for the $NZ600,000 TAB Trot on Friday week before starting the journey to Sweden.

He looked terrific returning to winning form at Menangle last night, posting a slick 1min52.1sec mile and doing it as he liked.

It was everything his connections would’ve wanted before heading to Cambridge.

Back to Keayang Zahara and we won’t have to wait long to see her back at the track.

She hasn’t raced since stretching her unbeaten record to 14 races with an eight-length victory in the Group 1 NZ Trotters’ Derby at Addington on November 6.

Her first main target is the Group 1 Macarthur Mile at Menangle on May 10.

“That’s seven weeks away and she’ll have a lead-up run before it, so that’ll probably be late April,” driver Jason Lee said.

“She’s coming up well. She hasn’t grown much, but she’s filled out a bit. We’ve only asked her to quicken-up twice and the signs are good.”

After Menangle, fans hope the focus will switch to the Brisbane Inter Dominion from July 5 to 19 at Albion Park

Such is the hype around Keayang Zahara, she is already $2.30 prepost favourite for the $500,000 Inter Dominion trotting final.

But Lee cautioned a final decision on the Inter Dominion wouldn’t be made until after Sydney.

“You’ve still got to remember she’s just turned four and hasn’t raced an open-class horse yet,” he said. “All the times and measures say she’ll measure up, but you’ve still got to do it.”

Lee said Keayang Chucky, Keayang Stuka and Imperial Monarch were other stablemates headed towards the Brisbane series.

Keayang Chucky and Keayang Stuka ran second and third respectively to The Locomotive in the Sydney final.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Victoria