Unbeaten Volstead mare searching for 16 in a row

Glen Craven admits he will feel the weight of the record books when he heads onto the track with boom unbeaten trotting mare Keayang Zahara (Volstead) at Menangle on Saturday night.

Victory in the $100,000 Group 1 Macarthur Mile will stretch Keayang Zahara’s record to 16 wins. She will join Court Jester, a star of the 1970s, with the equal fifth longest winning streak by a trotter in Australasia.

The incomparable Maori’s Idol holds the record with 24 successive wins, which ended on March 11, 1978.

This will be just Craven’s second drive on Keayang Zahara – he won the first by a narrow margin at Melton last Saturday night – because his cousin, Jason Lee, drove her to win her first 14 starts.

“She’s certainly the best I’ve sat behind. It’s good to be part of it and there is a lot of pressure, but it’s what we’re in the game for,” Craven said.

“It’s more about not wanting to be the one driving her when she gets beaten for the first time.

“We tried not to get too caught up in the unbeaten thing. Sure you don’t it end, but unless you’re Black Caviar, you know it will at some stage.”

There were several moments at Melton last Saturday night, when Keayang Zahara was first-up from a long spell, when Craven thought she was in danger of her first defeat.

“Oh, definitely. From about the 600m until halfway around the home bend, I thought we were in real trouble,” he said.

“Im Ready Jet is a proven top class trotter and she was in front, but when we sort of got within striking distance turning for home, I thought we’d win unless my mare ran out of puff. She just did enough.

“Even though the margin wasn’t great, we were thrilled with her effort.

“She’s been so fast and so dominant against her own age, she’s never really been in a dogfight, so it was a bit of an unknown, but she relished it and really wanted to win.”

Craven expects much the same the way the barriers have landed at Menangle, with the untapped Susan Is Her Name drawing gate two and Keayang Zahara in four.

“I’ve got huge respect for Susan Is Her Name. I’m not sure how quick she’ll get out, but if she does land in front and runs the times she has been, this will be our biggest test,” he said.

“The best of Im Ready Jet is really good, too, and we just beat her last week.”

Craven expects natural improvement from Keayang Zahara given last week was her first race since winning the Group 1 NZ Trotting Derby in Christchurch on December 6.

“Not so much fitness because we’ve got her pretty fit, but just sharpness that getting a race under her belt will be the big thing,” he said.

Importantly, Keayang Zahara has been to the spacious Menangle track before. She won the NSW Trotters’ Oaks and Derby double in September, last year.

“That’s a plus. Yes, it’s a big track, but some horses can take a run or two to get used to it,” Craven said,

In line with Craven’s wariness this week, Keayang Zahara has drifted from $1.25 to $1.45, while Susan Is Her Name has been crunched into $2.60 from a remarkable opening price of $9.50.

Such is hype on Keayang Zahara, who is chasing her eighth Group 1 win on Saturday, she is $2.50 prepost favourite for July’s Brisbane Inter Dominion final despite her lack of open-class racing.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Victoria