Addington annihilation: ‘Zahara’ brains them in The Ascent

She’s done it there, now she’s done it here, hail the new queen of Australasian harness racing, Keayang Zahara, she won the inaugural $500,000 Ascent by 19 metres.

It wasn’t quite Christian Cullen at the Miracle Mile all those years ago, but the performance by the Marg Lee trained daughter of Volstead at Addington Raceway this evening was otherworldly and will be talked about in the same vein for years to come.

The nine length romp of the best ensemble of New Zealand’s three-year-old trotting talent was breath taking.

It had the Addington crowd on their feet in unison at the 400m mark as Jason Lee set Keayang Zahara alight, with her dazzling speed on full display for the first time on New Zealand soil.

The Terang horseman admitted to being nervous in the lead up to the richest ever 3YO trotting contest held on New Zealand soil, but Jason Lee can take a bow for how he managed expectations and the way he summed up the race to perfection.

Sure, he had the best horse in the race, but the pressure must have been immense. To take the unbeaten filly back off the gait, let them sort themselves out in front before working to get outside the leader with a lap to run and take luck out of the equation was a master stroke.

The race leader, Tyron Eros, is no slouch. But ‘Zahara’ dropped him like he was a lead balloon.

“It was just awesome,” said Lee post race.

“You dream of doing these things as a kid growing up, but even the last 10 years since I’ve been driving. You dream of being in big races like this, let alone winning them in the style we just did.

“I’m just so glad with all the support we had back home that we got the job done with her because it was a little bit daunting coming all this way, but we knew that she was good enough and its great to have so many people behind her,” said Lee.

When asked about the decision to be cautious off the mobile, Lee provided the following insight which further underscored the role he played in the somewhat inevitable outcome.

“I think I probably could have buzzed up and held no worries but she just got a little bit keen in the warm up and I just didn’t want to have her having to keen in the running and I was just happy to roll around once the speed came out and get up and park outside Johnny,” he said.

Lee was then pressed to describe the feeling as he travelled down the Addington back straight with a lap full of horse in a half million dollar race and whether he had ever driven a horse who could just explode away from the opposition with consummate ease.

“Probably not against this sort of quality. I’ve done it on nice horses who has done it against lesser grades, but this filly does it against really nice fillies and colts and geldings. She is something special,” he said.

Having started her three-year-old campaign a maiden, an unbeaten streak that yields multiple Group One victories and enters the teens brings with it an awful amount of expectation. The Aussie camp and connections have taken it in their stride and in the harness racing cauldron of Canterbury no less, there is no bigger stage in Australasia as that of Cup and Show Week.

The Addington faithful responded as gratuitously as one could possibly imagine for a foreign visitor beating up on the locals, no doubt recognising the fact that they had seen a performance for the ages.

“To be honest there is a fair bit of relief. It was probably just being here the whole week and realising how big harness racing is in New Zealand. As awesome as it was, it was a build up of pressure and I’m just glad we got the job done.

“We will see how she pulls up obviously, but if she pulls up well I’ll be pushing for her to stick on for another couple of runs possibly,” he said.

KEAYANG ZAHARA REPLAY

Fingers crossed that eventuates, because it is champions like Keayang Zahara that will bring new eyes to the sport and when it’s all said and done, this might just be the greatest trotting filly to ever put a bridle on in the Southern Hemisphere.

There were initial concerns that a 3YO Trot Slot would struggle to get sufficient entries. Not only did it sell out quicker than it’s pacing equivalent, it provided the highlight of Cup and Show week.

For complete Addington Show Day results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink