La Crique’s last hurrah to NZ spring

[Wandering Eyes]

La Crique winning last year’s Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate. Photo: Trish Dunell

Spring hasn’t been kind to La Crique in New Zealand and punters might get their last glimpse of her racing during the fickle season in her homeland when she contests the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) on Saturday.

The five-year-old mare’s spring preparation has been interrupted by track conditions for the second year in a row, leading trainers Katrina and Simon Alexander to contemplate heading straight to Australia next year with their stable star.

The daughter of Vadamos was set to contest the Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m), a race she won last year, at Hastings on Saturday, but the Alexanders decided to scratch her from the Hawke’s Bay feature after being met by a rain-affected track.

“We may not have a spring preparation here at all. It is becoming quite difficult to get a good track horse ready for that Hawke’s Bay Carnival,” Katrina Alexander said.

“We got the first day under our belt, but that wasn’t the day that she is most suited to.

“We need to rethink the timing there for that type of horse. I think it is okay if you come off the winter with a hardened warhorse that can cop a range of surfaces, but I don’t think we will necessarily have that in our sights next year.

“It does make you rethink just how early you would bring a horse like her in for next season.”

The Alexanders are backing their decision to withdraw their mare from the race and are looking forward to pursuing their plan b this weekend.

“I don’t regret the decision not to run, even though the horse was down there,” Alexander said.

“We kind of got ourselves into that position last year, thinking we had to run. Where she is at in her prep, there was really no need to. The horse has come home in really good shape and we are able to press on.

“We had a couple of options going forward on two different timeframes and that will still work out for us. It (week delay) is not really a problem at all.”

La Crique has been lumbered with 60kg for Saturday’s test and Alexander is intrigued about how she will handle the weight.

“It will be interesting to see how she manages to carry weight. We all know she is not a strongly built horse and it is something she hasn’t been asked to do before,” she said.

“We just want to get a solid run under her belt. She is just there for a hit-out, there are no expectations for her on Saturday.

“It was either there or have a trial and she needs to have a solid hit-out, which they don’t always get in a trial, so we thought we might as well run around and see if we can pick up a little bit of money and we can advance from there.”

La Crique will be ridden on Saturday by Jasmine Fawcett, with regular rider Craig Grylls committed to ride at Hawera this weekend.

“Unfortunately, because it (Matamata Cup) wasn’t on the cards early on, it clashes with the Hawera meeting, and Craig is fully committed to Hawera with that being the more feature meeting for a lot of the jockeys this weekend,” Alexander said.

“Jasmine Fawcett has been engaged for this Saturday. She rode her very early on in her career (at the trials), so she has had the feel of the horse before.”

Following the weekend, La Crique is set to fly to Sydney where she will have a two-run campaign, culminating in a tilt at the A$2 million Five Diamonds (1800m) at Rosehill on November 11.

“After a meeting with the owners yesterday, we have picked out a path,” Alexander said.

“At this stage she is going to go to Sydney. The end target is a race called the Five Diamonds over 1800m, which we think will suit her nicely. Heading into that is the Craven (Group 3, 2000m).

“There was an option to take on one earlier, but we just think with the timing we would have had to get her on a plane this Sunday, which is a little but rushed.”

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