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Trainer Theo Kieser will have some deep thinking to do after his smart three-year-old Kaiser took out the $75,000 Progress Stakes over 1200m on Sunday.
The three-time winner as a two-year-old took his prizemoney past the $200,000 with his victory.
Ridden by Barend Vorster, Kaiser led throughout in scoring by two-and-a-half lengths over Dark Matter (Joao Moreira) with Getreel (Olivier Placais) six-and-a-quarter lengths away third.
Kaiser ran the 1200m journey in a smart 1 min 10.44 secs on the Yielding track.
“I'm not sure what we're going to do with him now,” said Kieser. “He's won four races now and he's going to start creeping up in class.
“I'm going to have to have a good look at the racing program now to find a suitable race.”
Kieser said he didn't think Kaiser ($15) could beat the $7 favourite Dark Matter and devised the plan to use the speed of Kaiser from the outset.
“I didn't think we could beat Dark Matter and the only way I thought we could was to use his speed,” said Kieser.
“We didn't think we could take a sit on him and then run over the top of him.
“He's got a high cruising speed, so rather than we chase them we decided to make them chase us.
“It worked out perfectly for us.”
Vorster said he had to use Kaiser up in the first 200m of the race, but once he found the front he relaxed nicely.
“He gave me a lovely ride in front, cruising up nicely to the turn,” said Vorster.
“Coming to the turn he changed his leg and quickened up nicely.
“It was good to jump on him and ride a winner for Theo.”
It was Kaiser's first start as a three-year-old after having eights starts during his two-year-old year, registering three wins and three second placings.
The only time he missed a place was in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe, finishing eighth to Mr Big and fourth to the same horse in the Magic Millions Juvenile Championship – both over 1200m.
By Seidnazar from the Perugino mare One Wink, Kaiser was an A$80,000 two-year-old purchase and is owned by the Gryphon Stable.