Kris Lees to have Kind Words with Mark Zahra over horror draw in Queensland Oaks mission

Kris Lees jokes he is open to suggestions as to what to do with his filly Kind Words as he looks to go back-to-back in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Damien Oliver produced one of the rides of the carnival to win the Queensland Oaks for Kris Lees last year, and Mark Zahra might have to provide the ride of the year to win it for the Group 1-winning trainer again this year.

Lees delivered a timed-to-the-minute performance to win the Group 1 feature with Amokura 12 months ago and is in the mix again with Kind Words at Eagle Farm on Saturday, however he jokes he is open to suggestions when it comes to deciding what to do after being dealt barrier 22 (which will come into 17 with scratchings).

The Newcastle trainer feels his filly is going well enough to win, but concedes he will be somewhat limited in his decisions come race time as he looks to plot a course to back-to-back Oaks.

“I am open to suggestions,” he laughed.

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“The way the track raced last week, I’m not going to go in with a preconceived idea, we will have a chat with Zahra once the seven races before it are run.

“She is just going to need some luck, her run in The Roses was very good because she got caught behind that tiring horse and had to weave a passage. I thought she was full of running through the line, I think she is in a good space.”

It was that slashing run behind runners which was enough for Zahra to give it the seal of approval, with Lees saying the Melbourne Cup winner was keen to stick with the ride for Saturday.

Kris Lees is looking to back-to-back Queensland Oaks victories. Picture: Jeremy Ng—Getty Images.

Kind Words is a $21 chance with TAB, in what Lees believes is one of the more even Queensland Oaks he has seen.

“It is a very even Oaks, I had a horse with $50,000 prizemoney (Bestower), last year Amokura got in with about $37,000, this year this filly didn’t even make the bench (emergencies).”

While Amokura always showed Lees staying potential, the Newcastle trainer says it is unlikely Kind Words sees the 2200m Oaks trip again in her career, with the two horses having completely different styles of racing.

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“They’re not really similar, the other filly always looked like a genuine stayer and this once has a bit more brilliance,” he said.

“She will be better over a shorter trip, we are stretching her over 2200m and I don’t know whether she will go back there again.

“This filly was already stakes placed in the spring, so they are different profiles.”

It comes as Lees prepares a four-pronged attack on the $1.2m Group 2 Q22 (2200m) on Stradbroke day next week with Amokura, Luncies, Adelaide River and Cleveland all set to line up.

Originally published as Kris Lees to have Kind Words with Mark Zahra over horror draw in Queensland Oaks mission