Perfect Group One Swansong for Legarto (NZ)

In her final New Zealand race, superstar Karaka graduate Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) produced one of Champions Day’s very best performances and added a fifth Group One trophy to her outstanding record.

Saturday’s $1m Group One Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie was the 12th win overall from 24 starts for Legarto, who was bought by Ancroft Stud for $90,000 from the Book 2 draft of Highline Thoroughbreds at Karaka 2021. Legarto has now earned $3.16m – 35 times her purchase price.

Legarto had previously recorded Group One victories in the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), Group One Australian Guineas (1600m) and two editions of the Group One Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m).

If there was any weakness in her super-impressive CV, it was her record at Ellerslie. She won her first start there back in January 2024, followed by a second in the $1m Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m), second in that year’s edition of the New Zealand Stakes, third in the Group One New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m), sixth in the Group One Proisir Plate (1400m) and third in the Group One Zabeel Classic (2000m).

She saved her best Ellerslie performance for last, launching an irresistible finish down the outside of the home straight on Saturday in the hands of Opie Bosson. She bounded up alongside Waitak (NZ) (Proisir) and Kingswood (Roaring Lion) and thrust her head in front, beating Waitak by a long head in a Proisir quinella.

“She’s a very good mare,” Bosson said. “We had a bit of ground to make up in the straight, but then the leaders started coming back to us quite quickly and I knew we could do it. She’s a lovely mare and beautiful to do anything with.”

Legarto has been a tremendous flagbearer for the boutique Matamata stable of Ken and Bev Kelso.

“I thought she was a fair way from them and had a bit of work to do, but she was always going to show her turn of foot,” Ken Kelso said.

“It’s quite an emotional win, because it is probably the last time you will see her on a New Zealand racetrack. There’s the option of another start in the Australian Cup (Group One, 2000m) in Melbourne, but we’ll talk to Philip Brown (part-owner) and the connections.

“I think people may have forgotten how good she is, but she now has five Group One wins.

“I’m very proud of this mare. She is one out of the box and a horse you only get once in a lifetime. Bev and I have been very fortunate to have had her.”