By Jonny Turner
Kentuckiana Lodge are resisting the urge to reach for their passports after their all-conquering King's Birthday weekend.
The combination of Cran, Chrissie and Carter Dalgety went on a winning spree with Joyride, Mostert, Freeze Frame, Cherish Me and Franco Sinatra all scoring.
Freeze Frame and Cherish Me both showed their class when unleashing sizzling closing sectionals in their victories.
With two smart three-year-olds at the top of their games coming into winter, the Brisbane Constellation Carnival seems like a natural target.
But Cran is opting to play the long game with both of his winners.
"Everyone knows that we are not afraid to head to Australia and have a crack at their big races."
"And I am sure both horses would be very competitive if we headed that way."
"But with the changing of the calendar in New Zealand in recent years, we have a spring and summer jam-packed with opportunities for nice young horses."
"Summing it all up and with where the horses are at, we are going to hold fire and target the good races here on our doorstep."
Freeze Frame was back to his crushing best when unleashing a supersonic 25.5sec final 400m to win the Champion Stakes.
"We have run into plenty of bad luck with him lately and it was very satisfying to see him get his chance on Sunday," Cran said.
"Draws and little things haven't gone his way, though we never like to make excuses."
"He's a nice horse in his own right, but you can't give a star like Jumal a 10-length head-start at the 800m as we did in his last start at Addington."
"He ran a very good 6th, but there aren't too many prizes for your sectionals on Stridemaster."
"On Sunday we got a draw to work with and he did the rest, it was great to see."
Cherish Me ran similarly smart sectionals in what turned out to be an effortless victory at Ashburton.
The victory was a case of her continued patient handling paying off again.
It's a recipe the Dalgetys won't be changing, no matter the temptation.
"As I have spoken about before, we have taken a patient approach before she even got to the races."
"Then at the races we have picked a path that has allowed her to learn the ropes and really get her ringcraft up to scratch."
"I think most will be able to see her talent is there, we just want her to be the complete package before we take on the big guns."
"We have our eyes on some big targets later in the year and we are working back from there."
Joyride started Kentuckiana's winning run over King's Birthday weekend when zipping home late to score.
In winning, the mare put a frustrating run behind her.
"She's been the one horse that has had us scratching our heads."
"She's had her share of little issues and to be perfectly honest we just haven't seen her true talent recently."
"We have worked frantically behind the scenes on her and we feel like we have the real Joyride back."
"It was only a minor race, but it felt like winning a cup race seeing her win like that."
New recruit Mostert continued his fine form when running to another victory at Addington on Friday night.
The pacer is unbeaten for Kentuckiana Lodge since being purchased recently by Mike Tanev.
Towards the end of the Ashburton card, the Dalgetys had four wins on the board.
Franco Sinatra then ran a national record to make it five wins and cap an outstanding King's Birthday weekend.
