Dual Group One winner La Crique (NZ) (Vadamos) continued her consistent run of form when finishing runner-up to El Vencedor in Saturday’s Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa, and she will now be set for another elite-level 2000m test.
The daughter of Vadamos has been in a purple patch of form since winning last year’s Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) at Otaki, winning two and finishing runner-up in five of her subsequent seven starts, much to the delight of her trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander.
“She is nothing but consistent and no one can bag her on that,” Katrina Alexander said. “A lot of horses will put in a good run and might struggle for the next few, but every time we have lined her up in her last five or six starts she has delivered.”
Alexander was pleased with La Crique’s efforts on Saturday and said she has come through the run well.
“It was a good effort considering the gap between runs and going straight into Group One level at 2000m technically fresh-up again. Especially against a horse like El Vencedor who is in a super patch of form and having had recent racing,” Alexander said.
“She got held up on the rail there too and she had to waste a bit of energy trying to get herself out as opposed to being able to go forward. With all that stacked up I thought it was a really good run. I was very proud of her effort.
“(She was) a little bit scratchy off the firm ground on the Sunday morning but come the afternoon she was very bright, and she is very bright in herself today (Monday). She has pulled up very well.”
La Crique has finished second in her last three outings, all at Group One level, and will bid to go one better when she heads to Ellerslie on Champions Day, March 8, to tackle the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m).
“She goes through to the Bonecrusher and we won’t need to do a lot in-between,” Alexander said. “It will be a bit of a gap (between runs), but that is the way she is best, she is not a horse that can routinely go (racing every) two weeks. “That will be our next main target and we will see where we go from there.”