The speedy mare got lower to the ground and big in stride to win multiple NZ sprints

Levante was a member of the first crop of new sire sensation Proisir, and the first of his five Group One winners, who was foaled and reared at the Phil Browns’ Ancroft Stud on behalf of her breeder Scott Williams. He offered her to the Browns' as a weanling when she was surplus to requirements and for a four-figure sum a syndicate that included Brown, along with former Waikato Racing Club Chief Executive, Tony Enting purchased the horse. Levante is out of the Doyoun mare Island Doy. She is the younger half-sister to well performed racemares Doyenne and Miss Isle who were both placed at stakes level. Levante broke her maiden before winning three more straight and also ran and an unlucky 3rd to Entriviare in the Gr.1 Railway at Ellerslie, beaten only once in five starts as a three year old..

Her 12 wins from 23 starts include back-to-back wins in the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) sprint at Trentham, beating Babylon Berlin in a ding-dong battle, and rolling Newmarket winner, Roch N Horse in the other. As well as those elite sprint features she won the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa and the Gr.1 Otaki WFA (1600m). The daughter of Proisir also won the the Gr.2 Westbury Classic (1400m) at Ellerslie and two editions of the Listed Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe. The head-turning time for the 1200m of 1:06.18 in her first Telegraph win was claimed by the Wellington Racing Club as an unofficial world record, but lets just say the speedy girl went very quick. The mare also ran 3rd in the 2023 Railway and BDC Sprint to a half decent horse named, Imperatriz, so the quality of horse she faced in NZ was nothing short of supreme, cream of the crop.

Levante’s first three starts in Australia resulted in fourth placings at Flemington in the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and Gr.1 Champions Sprint (1200m) and a fifth in the Gr.1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill. The mare's swansong before retirement was the Gr.1 Queen of the Turf Stakes at Randwick where she sadly finished 6th on a Heavy track. Although Levante never reached any giddy heights across the Tasman, her scintillating turn-of-foot was as good as any horse ever seen in New Zealand and she may have been just a little too placid at times to scale those mountains. Her career was shortened by two colic surgeries that denied the Kelso's any opportunity to get her out over more ground, but the mare always tried hard.

Levante was expected to go up for auction at the Gold Coast broodmare sales in 2023, however Phil Brown bought out most of Levante's other owners and signed a deal with Australian breeding giants, Arrowfield Stud. That is likely to see her serviced by Snitzel in the hope of producing another powerhouse sprinter. Hopefully she can return home and be bred to a domestic stallion that may see her offspring at the NZB Karaka Sales one day.

RACE RECORD - 23: 12-2-3

EARNINGS - $1,242,098

G1 BDC Group Sprint

G1 Otaki WFA

LR Counties Bowl (x2)

G2 Westbury Classic

G1 Telegraph Sprint (2022, 2023)