To say that Ken Kelso has mastered the art of the cross-Tasman raid is selling the brilliant Kiwi horseman short.
From talented stayers Love Dance and Envoy, to Guineas winner Legarto and emerging sprint sensation Alabama Lass, the no-frills New Zealander has rarely missed when he’s campaigned a horse in Australia.
The fact that his stable, which he runs in partnership with his wife Bev, has rarely had more than 10 horses in work at any given time makes his strike rate even more remarkable.
There might be a secret, but Kelso isn’t one to give away too much.
Instead, he’s happy to let his horses do the talking and he’s hoping they’ll have plenty to say this spring, with Group 1 races in Melbourne on the agenda for both Alabama Lass and Legarto.
“I don’t know that there’s any secret to it,” Kelso said. “We’ve been lucky to have had horses of this quality for donkey’s years – the first horse we brought over was a filly called Love Dance that ran second in the (1995) AJC Oaks and then ran fifth or sixth two years in a row in the Caulfield Cup.
”Then Envoy, a stayer that we had, ran seventh in the Melbourne Cup and second in the Adelaide Cup. So it hasn’t really happened just in the last five years, we’ve always had some nice, quality Group 1 mares the whole way through.”
“We’re not very big yearling buyers, we train for a few studs over here and have received some nice fillies from them along the way.”
Alabama Lass is set to lead his charge in the 2025 spring and Saturday’s Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) at The Valley is her launching pad.
Narrowly defeated at Group 1 level in New Zealand as a three-year-old, the daughter of Alabama Express won a $500,000 Listed feature down the Flemington straight at her first foray into Australia in March.
Kelso resisted the temptation to extend her autumn campaign to include Group 1 races in Adelaide or Sydney and it’s a decision he believes can be vindicated in the coming weeks.
“She’d had a big season and I think she’d done enough,” he said. “She’d had a trip to Christchurch, she was Group 1 placed, and then she won in Australia so it was time to pull up stumps and give her a nice break. Right now, I think she’s in a pretty good space. She’s strengthened up, grown, and made that development you like to see from three to four.
”She won a Group and Listed trial at Te Rapa a fortnight ago quite nicely so I think she’s back in good order. She’ll have her final gallop here (New Zealand) on Tuesday and she flies over on Wednesday morning.”
As Australia’s only weight-for-age Group 1 contest over 1000m, the Moir has attracted a field of short-course specialists including
She’s never seen The Valley, nor has she raced over 1000m but Kelso isn’t showing any signs of concern with Alabama Lass.
Beyond Saturday, the Manikato Stakes and The Everest have both been spoken about, although Kelso has a firm view that a tilt at the latter isn’t in his mare’s best interests just yet.
“I think she’s sharp enough over 1000m,” he said. “She’s got an enormous amount of speed, she can put herself right on the pace and nothing here (NZ) can match her early speed. We realise it’s a big step up, taking on some of those big boys and girls and it’s always hard for those three-year-olds going into their four-year-old year, especially into weight-for-age, but we’re happy to roll the dice and see where we end up.
”She’s never seen Moonee Valley so that’s going to be another interesting part of it. If she happened to go well and put her hand up, we’d stay for the Manikato but if not she can come home and be set for our sprints here over summer.”
“I don’t think it (The Everest) is a four-year-old race, it’s one for the older, seasoned, tough horses so while it’s in the back of my mind for next year, I think it would be a step too far this year.”
If Alabama Lass’ stablemate Legarto makes an appearance in Melbourne this spring, it’s unlikely that it will be until Champions Day at Flemington in November.
The 2023 Australian Guineas winner has only raced twice since her 2024 autumn campaign but Kelso is bullish the mare can sustain a longer spring campaign with several Group 1 targets in New Zealand over the coming months.
“She’s coming up alright, she ran in the same trial as Alabama Lass did actually,” he said. “She’ll run first-up in the Proisir Plate, the Group 1 over 1400m at Ellerslie. She’s nominated in all three of the Group 1 races (in New Zealand) this spring so she’ll race over here for the good money, but if she happened to put her hand up then we might look at something like the Champions Stakes over 2000m on the last day of the Flemington carnival.”
Bring on the Moir Stakes @TheValley
Classy kiwi Alabama Lass breezed in her TeRapa trial last weekend
Ken Kelso would have also been pleased with Legarto in same heat pic.twitter.com/9hJXcL76al— STEVE HEWLETT 🏇🎣 🛥👩🦳📻🏃♂️ (@stevejoseph69) August 14, 2025
