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Rae eyes million-dollar prize with Vegas Queen
Richard Edmunds, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • November 29th, 2025 3:30 pm
Vegas Queen winning The NHR Group 1300 at Ellerslie on Saturday. Photo | Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Ruakaka trainer Kenny Rae is working backwards from the $1 million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) after Vegas Queen kicked off her four-year-old season on a winning note at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The NHR Group 1300 was the first appearance for 252 days for Rae’s stable star, whose last racetrack appearance produced a victory in the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) at Trentham back on March 22.
Sent out as an $8.40 chance on Saturday against a talented open handicap field, Vegas Queen showed early speed and led for the first 300m before handing up that position when Pericles pushed forward from his wide gate.
Jockey Masa Hashizume had Vegas Queen travelling sweetly in second, then cruised back up alongside Pericles soon after rounding the home turn.
First Five, Frostfair and Mosinvader all produced strong finishes from off the pace and they all got close, but Vegas Queen pinned her ears back and held them all out. She beat First Five by a head, with the same margin back to Frostfair in third. Mosinvader was another neck behind in fourth.
Vegas Queen’s first-up heroics were a notable training feat by Rae, but he downplayed his role in the result.
“It’s easy to train good horses,” he said. “I said to Dirk (Oberholster, breeder and part-owner) that if she didn’t win or run well today, the only reason would be that I didn’t have her fit enough. I doubted myself a little bit, but she was good.
“The horse has grown up. She’s always been the laziest horse about the place at home, but as soon as you put her in company, she becomes the most competitive. I was a bit worried when the other horse (Pericles) pushed forward today that she might take off and try to go with him, but it was a 12-out-of-10 ride and a good performance by the horse.”
Vegas Queen is a well-related daughter of Proisir and the Carlton House mare Miss Vegas, whose dam Operavega is a half-sister to Vegas Showgirl – dam of the legendary Winx. Miss Vegas is also a half-sister to the dam of Group One winner and A$6 million earner Gringotts.
From her own 10-start career, Vegas Queen has now recorded three wins and three placings and has earned $275,625 in prize-money.
The Wellington Guineas was her biggest win to date, and she also finished second behind Ardalio in the Gr.3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m) during the Karaka Millions meeting at Ellerslie in January.
Rae is looking forward to returning to that same fixture again on January 24, with the TAB now rating Vegas Queen a $21 chance for the Aotearoa Classic.
“I want to get her to the Aotearoa Classic,” Rae said. “That’s for four-year-olds only, and she’s been extremely competitive against her own age group in the past.
“She needs to settle to see out the mile in that race, but today was a good start.”
On the strength of Saturday’s performance, Hashizume is confident Vegas Queen can stretch out over further.
“She was a little bit toey going down to the start, but really relaxed in the race,” he said. “When I saw the other horse come around me, I was happy to follow that horse and she relaxed really well. She quickened really well in the straight – probably even more than I was expecting she would – and was strong all the way to the line. I think she’ll get more ground easily.
“It’s not always easy for these good three-year-olds coming back at four, so this was a good training effort.”
