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Racing fans were left shaking their heads at Ellerslie on Saturday evening after witnessing exciting mare Levante take out the Group 2 Westbury Classic (1400m).
For those who had never seen the Proisir four-year-old in action before, they could have been forgiven for ripping up their betting tickets up at the 600m as the $1.40 favourite was dead last in the ten-horse field and struggling to catch the runners immediately ahead of her.
What happened next was succinctly summed up by Levante’s rider Sam Collett when she admitted later that ‘there are good horses and then there are horses like her’.
Punters post-race: Saturday racing in review, January 23 by James Lamb, Luke Sheehan & David Hocking Artorius dominated his rivals at Sandown Image: Getty
A Freedman-trained 2YO stole the show at Sandown, a Kiwi star enhanced her reputation even further, and we saw an all-time sick beat in Sydney. Star Performer
Levante in the Westbury Classic (Ellerslie R3)
Wins don t come much bigger than that of Levante s over the ditch at Ellerslie in the G2 Westbury Classic. The Ken Kelso-trained daughter of Proisir looked like she was in all sorts of bother at the 600m mark when dead-last in the 10-horse field, with plenty of lengths to make up and seemingly having hit a flat spot. But Collett then swung her out to the middle of the track upon straightening and asked Levante for the ultimate effort. It took a bit of riding to get her going but once she hit top gear the star Kiwi mare launched out of the ground to sweep past her rivals and score a surprisingly soft win