Lakelsa retired

SBSR mare Lakelsa has been retired to stud and is likely to head to Bettor’s Delight in the spring.

From just two seasons of racing and twenty four starts she won seven races including two group features; the Group One New Zealand Breeders Stakes and the Group Two ‘Premier Mares’ Championship.

Bred by Bruce and Al Sinclair of Wyndham and trained by Regan Todd, Lakelsa is out of Real Desire mare Oh Tara, an unraced daughter of My Sharona. My Sharona won two races but it’s as a broodmare that she’s made her mark.

Her first foal Havinaravup, won four races while Leigh Major won seven and Mr Handleman five.

Bruce told me in an earlier interview that Lakelsa had tested the patience of a few and damaged equipment and limbs on the way to making a racehorse.

“She broke in nice and went back to Brad Morris’s for her first prep. She started bucking when she went out on the track. He jumped out and she gave him the barrel and broke his knee. She also kicked me out and smashed the aluminium sulky down at the racecourse one day. David Gregory did a bit of work with her and Craig (Ferguson) swam her for a bit. She then had a break and we worked her up a bit behind the motorbike. I rang Barry Todd to see if he knew a young trainer in Canterbury who might take her. Two days later Regan (Todd) rang and he ended up taking her,” he said.

Lakelsa was never a walk in the park, but her feats on the racetrack were rewarded when she was named 2025 Five Year Old and Older Mare of the Year.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink