Undefeated mare earns Group One start

[Wandering Eyes]

The Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) was originally viewed as Pearl Of Alsace’s (NZ) (Tavistock) grand final, but the unbeaten mare has since convinced connections to raise the bar one more time.

The well-related daughter of Tavistock won the Trentham feature at her fifth appearance and will now take aim at the Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Pukekohe on Saturday.

“She has given us no reason not to continue. Her work this morning was probably the best she has produced,” said trainer Shaune Ritchie, who prepares the four-year-old with Colm Murray.

“She’s going to need to be three or four lengths better than we were in the Cuddle Stakes to handle this field.

“However, the improvement is there and she does things effortlessly and is a very clean-winded horse.

“It’s hard to get a line on how good she is, or isn’t, because she just does enough. She’s not a flashy five-length winner, but she seems to know where the post is.”

Raced by breeder Sir Peter Vela, Pearl Of Alsace opened her career with success at New Plymouth in November and has since won a further four races, culminating in her last-start black-type victory.

“She hasn’t put a foot wrong and we’ve been looking for any signs of fatigue and they simply haven’t been there, but this will definitely be her last run,” Ritchie said.

“If anything, I think she has improved again with the Cuddle Stakes win and on the positive side of things, she hasn’t learned how to lose yet so that’s a plus.”

However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing with Pearl Of Alsace, whose dam Irion (NZ) (Danroad) was a multiple winner and Group performer.

“In the early days, she was a real handful and we had her in for six weeks and then turned her out for a month,” Ritchie said.

“We brought her back in and she was pretty full of herself, but now as a mare she has mellowed.

“We’ve asked a lot and she’s produced a lot in her first prep, coming from a maiden through to the Cuddle Stakes.”

Ritchie also went to $260,000 to purchase Pearl Of Alsace’s half-sister by Super Seth out of Pencarrow Stud’s draft at Karaka in January.

“She wasn’t cheap, but at that point Pearl Of Alsace had won a couple and we were pretty cocky that she would be a Group winner,” Ritchie said.

“We were also hearing good information about (half-sister) Zourion, the Zoustar filly, from Te Akau and her winning the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr.2, 1200m) was a great bonus.

“Our yearling is now a very valuable filly and she hasn’t had a saddle on her back.”

Ritchie will also be represented at Pukekohe by last-start Taupo success story Desert Island (NZ) (Darci Brahma) in the NZB Yearling On Gavelhouse Plus 3YO (1400m).

“She’s going well and coming out of a good maiden win. I guess we will get a line on her, we’re testing the waters to see where we sit going forward,” Ritchie said.

Two-time winning stablemate The Racketeer (NZ) (Proisir) was initially nominated for the three-year-old race but did not accept on Wednesday.

“I think there’s better races for The Racketeer and he’s a possibility to go to Brisbane,” he said.

“He will have another run before the plane goes at the end of the month and the English stayer Mahrajaan will go if he continues to thrive the way he has.

“There are a couple of others that are possibilities like Rocket Lad and Enraptured, who won her first start as a two-year-old and then ran fifth in a stakes race (Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Stakes) before she had a bone chip removed and has come back really well.

“All these horses will have to perform in their next runs to justify the trip.”

A son of Kitten’s Joy, Mahrajaan was purchased for 75,000 guineas (about $156,000) at the Tattersalls Horse In Training Sale last November. He has won three races up to 2400m and placed five times from 10 starts.

“There were 41 horses from that sale on the plane back and 40 of them went to Australia and one came here,” Ritchie said.

“It’s one out of the box and something I’ve always wanted to try and I went up there for four days to see how they do things. We wanted to target a horse that may have been a bit backward that we could improve mentally by using our paddocks here at Cambridge.

“His form is just below the Group form and so far we are delighted with the way he has done.

“We’ll trial him at Avondale on April 11 and then make a call whether we go straight to the Easter Handicap (Gr.3, 1600m) on April 22 or in the open mile at Awapuni a day later.”

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