Legarto (NZ) All Class in Fourth Group One

Top-class Karaka graduate Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) lifted her Group One tally to four with an outstanding performance in the $700,000 Group One Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.

Ancroft Stud paid $90,000 to buy Legarto from Book 2 of Karaka 2021, where she was offered by Highline Thoroughbreds on behalf of breeder Warwick Jeffries. Her 23-race career has now produced 11 wins, five placings and over $2.58m in stakes – more than 28 times her purchase price.

Legarto burst on the scene as a three-year-old with wins in five of her six starts in that campaign including the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group One Australian Guineas (1600m). She added the 2024 edition of the Herbie Dyke Stakes as a four-year-old the following season.

Exactly two years on from that win, Legarto was once again on top of the Group One podium. She hadn’t had all favours through her five previous starts this season, which resulted in a sixth in the Group One Proisir Plate (1400m), fifth in the Group One Howden Insurance Mile (1600m), fourth in the Group One TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m), third in the Group One Zabeel Classic (2000m) and fourth in the Group Two Thorndon Mile (1600m). But on Saturday everything fell into place and Legarto showed her true colours.

She was ridden for the first time by champion jockey Opie Bosson, who achieved a landmark result of his own with the 100th Group One victory of his career.

Bosson rode a patient race, settling in second-last before beginning to creep closer coming down the side of the track.

Legarto had moved up into fifth by the home turn, and Bosson hooked her to the outside to launch her run.

She quickened and soon drew up alongside last-start Group One Zabeel Classic (2000m) winner Kingswood (Roaring Lion), who began to lay out on her in their desperate battle to the line. Legarto called on all of her star qualities and edged past to win by a long neck.

“It’s pretty special to ride my 100th Group One winner for Ken and Bev, they’re lovely people and I owe them heaps,” Bosson said. “I don’t have that many raceday rides for them, although I ride a lot of their good horses in their main gallops.”

Ken Kelso was proud to see his stable star back in her very best form.

“It’s very special,” he said. “It’s just a crying shame Bev can’t be here to witness it. I know it’s Opie’s 100th Group One, and it’s our 15th.

“When she loomed up, I thought she would be hard to beat. Everyone had written her off, but she is an Australian Group One winner and you can’t take that away from her.

“It’s a great satisfaction. She has had a few setbacks, she did a tendon and had a lot of time off, and she had a foot problem this time with her heel.

“She hasn’t been going bad races, she’s been running thirds and fourths. She was back on a good deck today at Te Rapa, which she loves, so she was always a chance.”

Vendor	Highline Thoroughbreds
Purchaser	Ancroft Stud (Waikato)
Breeding	Proisir – Geordie Girl
Sale	Lot 804, Karaka 2021 Book 2, $90,000
Breeder	W E Jeffries
Owner	Mrs C J & P H Brown, A C & Mrs M E Enting, W J Foster, Mrs B J & K S Kelso, A M & Mrs P J Kirton, G & M Maloy & E J Verheyen