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Twelve months on from her breakthrough win in the Listed Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe, Levante has returned at least as well for her title defence at Te Rapa on Saturday, according to Matamata trainer Ken Kelso.
Proisir mare Levante had won four of her five starts and finished a desperately unlucky second in her other start in the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) leading into her first open class assignment in last year's Counties Bowl.
Despite settling last from a customary slow beginning and giving a smart field, that included Group One winners Summer Passage and Julius, a significant start, Levante came to the outside under Sam Collett and mowed her rivals down with a performance that stamped her potential.
She went on to success in the Gr.2 Westbury Classic (1400m) and Royal Descent Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie and placed in the Gr.1 Railway (1200m) at the same track, as well as finishing fourth in the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) and fifth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes (1600m), both at Te Rapa.
But Kelso and his wife and training partner Bev are hoping that Saturday's Counties Bowl can be the launching pad to even more prestigious wins this preparation.
"She'll run here and we'll make up our minds after this whether we go straight to the Railway or she has another one in between," Kelso said.
"She drops to 55 kilos in the Railway under set weights and penalties so that will assist her. But we'll just assess the situation after she runs on Saturday.
"We'll probably go to the Telegraph this year. We bypassed the Telegraph last year in favour of going to the Westbury. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves."
Levante was a narrow 1000m trial winner at Matamata earlier this month and she has had two exhibition gallops to hone her fitness for her resuming run.
"She had an exhibition gallop at Matamata and a trial at Matamata. She had a bit of a day out and an exhibition gallop at Tauranga the other day. She ran a nice half-mile (800m)," Kelso said.
"She hasn't raced for a long time and it was just good for her to have a day away. She would have been working at the track anyway.
"She's really going well. Her trial was excellent. She's as forward as she was last year for this race but she's carrying 59-1/2 kilos against 53 last year. But I'm happy with how she is and we think she's going just as well as she was last year."
A winner of seven of her 11 starts, Levante has sometimes cost herself with tardy beginnings but Kelso said she possessed a strong will to win and was looking forward to her reuniting with jockey Ryan Elliot, who rode her in her first five starts and her trial at Matamata this month.
"She's very competitive. She wants to get on with the job," Kelso said.
"Her work has been very good and she definitely seems a bit stronger. Her attitude is good, her demeanour is good so we're happy.
"Ryan rode her in her first few starts and was unbeaten on her until the Wellington Guineas. He couldn't ride her last year because she only had 53 kilos and that's how Sam Collett got on her. But Sam's gone to Aussie so Ryan's got back on now he can make the weight.
"Hopefully she gets away cleanly and if she does, I can't see why she can't be very competitive, even with the big weight."
Meanwhile, the Kelsos also have stakes plans for five-win Redoutes's Choice five-year-old mare Les Crayeres, an impressive trial winner at Taupo this week.
"I scratched her at Tauranga on Saturday due to track conditions when they downgraded to a heavy 10. Luckily I'd put her in at the trials at Taupo on Monday and she trialled enormously," Kelso said.
"She won by five and Danielle (Johnson, rider) was very happy. She's going to ride her at Te Aroha on Saturday week in the set weights and penalties mile (Gr.3 Eagle Technology Stakes) where she'll carry just 53. We'll try and get some black-type for her."
