By Adam Hamilton
Trainer Brent Lilley admitted it was “a very exciting thought” to accept an invitation and run Keystone Del in the $US1 million Yonkers Invitational in October.
“It’s hard for me to line them up, but Ants (Anthony Butt, driver) has a better idea after taking Lyell Creek over there and having him be so competitive,” Lilley said.
“While he’s not saying Keystone Del is as good as Lyell Creek, he does think he’s got sharper gate speed and will be better suited to the mile racing over there.
“That’s encouraging when you consider Lyell Creek wasn’t that behind all-time greats like Varenne and Victory Tilly when he raced overseas.”
Lilley said he had already briefly discussed the trip with Keystone Del’s owners.
“They said they would basically leave it up to me,” he said.
“So we will get through this weekend and then have to make a decision because you’d want to have it all planned out.”
Remarkably, Keystone Del seems to have improved since controversially being switched from Nicole Molander to Lilley’s stable.
His form and string of record-breaking times say so.
“It was lovely to get him, but there was plenty of pressure along with it. You’re a dill if his form drops off and if he keeps winning, that was to be expected,” a modest Lilley said.
“He’s going really well, largely because he’s really sound at the moment. He’s trotting so smoothly.”
Keystone Del capped his preparation for Saturday night’s Great Southern Star with another record-breaking win in the Group 1 Knight Pistol at Cranbourne last Saturday night.
The eight-year-old sat parked and won as he liked by 11.1m in a 1min56.1sec mile.
Major Great Southern Star rival Glenferrie Typhoon trotted roughly, broke and raised doubts as to whether he will even back-up this week.
“Speeding Spur is going to be our hardest to beat judging by how well he went in the Grand Prix against us a few weeks back,” Lilley said.
“Still, it’s not easy for a four-year-old, especially having to run twice in the same night. It’s something we know Keystone Del has done well.”
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