‘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.

A start in this year's Inter Dominion in Brisbane is up in the air for star trotter Keayang Zahara. Picture: HRNZ

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.

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“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. pic.twitter.com/XEFrMzOlfg

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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.

• Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.

Originally published as ‘The trip knocked her around’: Keayang Zahara setback for Inter Dominion