Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Veteran trainer Kevin Keys is enjoying a purple patch and he celebrated his fifth win in the space of five days when Blitzembye set the pace and easily beat Whatabro and Soho Dow Jones in the $25,000 The West Australian Pace over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This completed a double, following Water Lou’s victory in the Diamond Classic earlier in the night, and came after wins with Mister Linton at Pinjarra on Monday and a double with Five Bangles and All About Riley at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening.
The 75-year-old Keys has had 96 starters this year for 19 wins and 23 placings and is firmly on target to exceed his previous best season of 20 winners in the 2011-12 season.
“Barrier draws are important at Gloucester Park and Blitzembye took advantage of the No.1 draw tonight,” he said. Blitzembye, the $1.50 favourite, was driven confidently by Shannon Suvaljko, and after an ambling lead time of 8.4sec. and slow opening quarters of 32.5sec. and 30.4sec. the New Zealand-bred five-year-old sped over the final quarters in 28.4sec. and 27.3sec.
Blitzembye is by Bettors Delight and is the seventh foal out of the unraced mare Falcon’s Flybye. Blitzembye has now had 46 starts for 16 wins, nine placings and stakes of $169,738. After two wins from eight New Zealand starts, he has had 38 starts in WA for 14 wins and seven placings.
Blitzembye’s full-brothers Alotbettor and He Can Fly, and his half-brother Fleeting Grin have been extremely durable performers.
Alotbettor and He Can Fly raced successfully in America. Alotbettor had 182 starts for 39 wins and 48 placings for stakes of $535,082, and He Can Fly had 177 starts for 38 wins, 43 placings and $310,646. Fleeting Grin earned $111,792 from 11 wins and 33 placings from 152 starts.