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News.com.au
29-05-2025
- General
- News.com.au
Harness racing: Chris Lang welcomes return of stable star Ollivici after officially becoming a legend
It has been a huge week for training great Chris Lang. The one-time 'King of Trotting' in Australia was inducted as a Caduceus Club 'Living Legend' on Monday night and his stable star Ollivici returns from an injury-enforced lay-off at Melton on Saturday night. The 65-year-old, who has trained 38 Group 1 winners in Australia and driven 22, said he was surprised and humbled with his Living Legend award. 'My partner (Sonia Mahar) did a great job keeping it a secret. I didn't even know where we were going until we turned up at Melton, saw a few of my old mates arriving and then I twigged something was up,' Lang said. 'It was a very pleasant surprise and a real honour.' Lang is the third member of one of harness racing's greatest families to be afforded Living Legend status. Previously his late father, Graeme (1998) and brother Gavin (2013), were inducted. Lang's long list of stars include: Sundons Gift, Skyvalley, Let Me Thru, National Interest, Kyvalley Road and Jauriol. He trained three successive Inter Dominion trotting final winners with Galleons Sunset (2008) and Sundons Gift (2009 and '10). In a couple of weeks, Lang, who now trains a select team in partnership with Sonia Mahar, will head to Brisbane to chase his fourth Inter Dominion. Ollivici is a trotter Lang has always felt has feature-race talent and he's more than hinted at it with 18 wins, 17 placings and almost $300,000. The gelding went to the last Brisbane Inter Dominion in late 2023 and made a splash with two wins a second in his three heats, but ran below his best when seventh in the final behind the great Just Believe. An operation to remove a bone chip in a front fetlock has kept Ollivici away from the track since he ran third at Melton on December 14, last year. 'It's a deliberately long and slow build-up with our eye on Brisbane again,' Lang said. 'He had his third trial at Melton on Monday and we've asked a bit more of him each time. He hit the line well, made up a length on Callmethebreeze (a star trotter) and finished alongside him.' Ollivici will start from gate nine in Saturday night's 2240m Aldebaran Park Trotters' free-for-all at Melton. 'It's a starting point and we'll get more racing into him before the Inter Dominion starts,' Lang said. Much of that lead-up racing could be in Brisbane. 'We're thinking of going up early. There's racing options for him at Albion Park on June 14 and 21 and the week after that is the Redcliffe Trotters' Cup then the Inter heats starts on July 5,' Lang said. 'Given his long time out, we'd like to get him up there early to really settle in and get some racing under his belt. Lang is looking to take emerging three-year-old trotter Farrokh north with Ollivici. 'He's a Q-bred (Queensland-bred) so there are some good bonuses up there for him. He won his last start at Maryborough (November 20) and is almost ready to head back to the races,' Lang said.
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘The trip knocked her around': Keayang Zahara setback for Inter Dominion
Inter Dominion trotting favourite Keayang Zahara is 'no lock' to tackle the rich series starting in Brisbane on July 5. Regular driver Jason Lee revealed the boom four-year-old mare had not handled her recent trip to Sydney as well as expected. Keayang Zahara's unbeaten 15-race streak ended when beaten into second spot by Susan Is Her Name in the Group 1 Macarthur Mile at Menangle last Saturday week. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'The trip probably knocked her around a little bit. The trip up and back and the tough run … she lost a bit of weight.' Lee told TrotsVision. 'Now she's back home, we have to reassess where at and make a decision whether to take her to Queensland or not. 'It's no lock that she'll go. We'll probably all sit around the kitchen and table and talk through it. 'We plan to give her another run and then make a decision after that.' The most likely D-Day is June 14 in a mares-only trotting free-for-all at Melton. 'All going well, we'd still like to go, but you've still got to remember she is only a four-year-old and has only had two races at open-class level. 'She's have to float up or get on a plane to Queensland and have three races, three weekends in a row. 'We just wouldn't like her to be carrying a bit more weight. 'She seems well, but we will always err on the side of caution if it's a close call when it comes to decision time.' Jason Lee provided an update on mighty mare Keayang Zahara last night, saying a decision is still to be made around whether or not she contests the Queensland Inter Dominion series in July. — The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) May 18, 2025 Lee certainly wasn't disappointed with Keayang Zahara' s performance at her first defeat. 'She got a bit keen in front and she'd only ever done that once before when we used her off the gate in a heat of the (Victoria) Derby at Maryborough,' he said. 'Given the time they went, her run was terrific and the winner went super. 'It (the defeat) hurts a bit because winning streaks like that are great for the game. 'Even if she wasn't our horse, things like that capture the imagination.' Susan Is Her Name, who went within just 0.2sec second of the Australasian mile record beating Keayang Zahara, is having a freshen-up back at Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin's stable ahead of the Inter Dominion. Connections said she was likely to go into the first round of heats without a lead-up race. The other two three big guns in the trotting series are star Victorian Arcee Phoenix, winner of last month's TAB Trot at Cambridge, and glamour Kiwi pair Oscar Bonavena and Bet A Win.
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
'Our biggest test': Superstar trotter Keayang Zahara puts win streak on the line in Group 1 Macarthur Mile
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 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. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! '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 want 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 of 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 the hype around Keayang Zahara, which 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.
