Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander have always felt distance would be La Crique’s best friend, and they will give her the opportunity to step up over ground when they head to Australia with her later this month.
The daughter of Vadamos kept her perennial bridesmaid tag firmly intact over the weekend, bested by the barest of margins by in-form gelding El Vencedor in the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie, extending her elite-level runner-up sequence to four.
Despite going down for the fourth straight time on Saturday, La Crique’s conditioners were proud of her efforts, particularly the tenacity she showed in the closing stages after being the aggressor throughout the contest.
“It is always good to see when two good horses are fighting it out like that for the majority of the straight, it made quite the spectacle for everyone,” Katrina Alexander said.
“We just went down again, we need a bigger head.
“He (El Vencedor) is obviously in a purple patch of form and full credit to his trainer (Stephen Marsh), they have done a super job at this time of year to keep him where he is at.
“We were super happy with our mare, she made it a race, and that is what we intended going out to do. Michael (McNab, jockey) made a good decision during the running that we had to take it to them and see if she could hang on. Someone had to win, if it was a dead-heat that would have been the dream, but she has pulled up super well from it so that is the main thing.
“Full credit to the track team at Ellerslie, they provided a track that horses seemed to come off in very good shape.”
La Crique’s last three starts have been over 2000m, and Alexander is looking forward to trying her over further ground once more, with the Gr.1 Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill on March 29 now firmly in the crosshairs.
“We have kept her back to the 2000m for these races and that is probably been the hardest thing. I know in my gut that she wants to go further,” Alexander said.
“You train them for the distance they are going to run and that (2000m) is now not necessarily her friend. If Saturday was a bit further, I think we would have had it over him (El Vencedor), but that is what we lined-up for.
“I want to see her go further, and the owners are keen to too. It has always been a goal of theirs to get some form of black-type in Australia, at whatever level, just to boost that breeding pedigree as we get closer to that time of her life.
“We have earmarked the Tancred in Sydney for her at the end of the month and have a crack at getting her up over 2400m while she is well and performing well. That will be our plan at this stage.”
The Tancred will be La Crique’s third Australian campaign, having previously finished fourth in the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington in 2022, and won the A$500,000 National Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm last June.
The Tancred’s 2400m will also be the second time La Crique been tested over that distance, having previously finished runner-up to Asterix in the 2022 edition of the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m).
In an injury-plagued career, La Crique has now won nine of her 26 starts, including the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) and Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m), has placed on 13 occasions, including eight at Group One level, and has accrued nearly $2 million in prizemoney. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
