It was a one-act affair in the Group 2 Chairman’s Quality (2600m) at Randwick on Saturday afternoon, with Alalcance giving her rivals a galloping lesson in the $300,000 staying feature.
The daughter of Mastercraftsman was simply sensational on Saturday, bowling along in front under Tim Clark before exploding in the concluding stages, chalking up a hat-trick of wins this preparation and solidifying herself as the one to beat in next Saturday’s Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m).
The five-year-old mare never looked in any danger despite sustaining some early pressure, bolting clear of her rivals as the likes of Birdman () and Valiant King ($8.50) were left to fight out the minors.
It’s the fifth win at start 10 for the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained mare, and she seems to be getting better with every run as Adrian Bott alluded to in his post-race assessment.
“She’s so unassuming, she really is,” said Bott.
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with at home, she’s obviously lovely and laid-back and relaxed. These stayers, it’s hard to see at home, they don’t show that brilliance or that sharpness but she can obviously sustain a nice, high cruising speed as Tim was able to run that style of race.
“It wasn’t that way for the first part of it, it was a little messy and once again with that inside draw she was a little bit slow into stride, and Tim knew the horse that he had. He was happy to be positive and make use of her early, knowing that she could sustain it, and he must have been pretty confident because he put the foot down early and made a sure thing of it. So it was good to see.
“It’s a system and a race and a program that we’ve used successfully to win the (Sydney) Cup before, so I think she’ll handle it well. She’s had the right conditioning to get here today and I just can’t wait to see her over the two miles.”
Tim Clark gave a glowing endorsement post-race.
“If she learns to jump on terms and get going, good luck beating,” said Clark.
“She’s just got so much stamina, and we always thought that. I was open to the idea of taking a sit on her today, especially early I wasn’t bustling her, she was working through to be in a forward position but a couple crossed and I was going to be happy there.
“But they seemed to go a bit slow and over the crossing I said ‘I’ll take it from here Willo’.
“You can’t pull her up after the race, so the 3200m is going to be no problem. She drops down in weight and she’s going to be hard to beat because she’s just in a rich vein of form.”
Alalcance is now the clear $2.50 with horse racing bookmakers for the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) on Day 2 of the Championships.
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