La Crique impresses in Magic Millions National Classic
Outstanding New Zealand mare La Crique (Vadamos) continued making up for lost time as she took her earnings past $1 million with an imperious victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Magic Millions National Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm.
The five-year-old has taken a circuitous route to seven figures. She was hailed a superstar after winning six of her first ten starts, capped by Matamata’s Arrowfield Stud Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) as a spring four-year-old in 2022.
But the journey since has been rocky.
She crossed the Tasman for her subsequent start and failed punters as an odds-on favourite in Flemington’s Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), managing only fourth under James McDonald.
That began a chequered sequence of seven winless runs, spread over more than a year and interrupted by recurring foot issues.
The Simon and Katrina Alexander-trained mare made it back into the headlines in February with her second top-level success, in the Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (Gr 1, 1600m), but another setback scuppered hopes for a Sydney autumn campaign.
However, Brisbane became a possibility after a narrow first-up second in a 1400-metre Group 3 at Rotorua on May 11, and the plan received golden validation in Saturday’s WFA fillies and mares’ feature.
With McDonald having his second ride on her, the $2.70 favourite settled quietly behind the main group in eighth of 11, and was brought wide on the turn. She still looked to be paddling in the first 150 metres of the straight, but given a couple of firm reminders from her rider, she stormed home professionally to score by 1.1 lengths.
Andrew Noblet’s $4.60 second favourite Foxy Frida (Foxwedge) returned to near peak form by taking second, ahead of Danny O’Brien’s last start Doomben Group 3 winner Maracana (Shamexpress), a $41 bolter then and again on Saturday.
“I thought she was out of play at the top of the straight,” McDonald said. “She hit a big flat spot and I didn’t think we were going to get out of it. But when I gave her a reminder with the left, she found a bit so it was a good effort to win.”
The $700,000 Tatts Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) at the same track on June 29 became a possibility on the strength of Saturday’s victory. However, given her late rally to win this latest start, when asked if the drop in distance would be a problem for the mare, McDonald replied simply: “Yeah it would be.”
While her struggles have seemed to have pushed her early fireworks in a more distant past, Katrina Alexander said post-race that La Crique was still building as a racehorse. Though soon to turn six, she’s still only had 20 starts, for eight wins and eight placings.
The main issue may be finding another suitable target in Brisbane. Alexander said she would consult the program, but connections may now be emboldened to pick a black-type path in the spring.
“If this race wasn’t on offer we might have been scratching our heads wondering which race to come for,” Alexander said. “But we can build on this now and we’re in no rush to take her home. I’d love to put together a couple of races over here, and we’re mindful we’ve missed the hot end of the carnival.
“We knew she’d be well placed [on Saturday]. Weight-for-age races seem to suit her and she’s performed well in them in the past. Stepping up to the mile second-up after her first-up run back home also ticked the right boxes for her, so it was good placement.
“I’m thrilled for the owners, and I’m thankful to James for sticking with her.
“I feel like we let the punters down in Melbourne, so to come back and do that was a big thrill and it’s nice to get a result.”
Alexander said La Crique offered a programming advantage in that “we don’t have to do a lot with this mare”.
“She’s incredibly clean-winded. There’s not a lot of her so we’ll have a nice quiet week to ten days with her now before slowly building her up again,” she said.
“Having said that, in Melbourne last year she kept improving after her first run and she gained in confidence, so I think she’s still developing as a racehorse.”
A homebred for John and Jan Cassin, La Crique (5 m Vadamos – Destiny Cove by Dubai Destination) is the fourth of six foals, and best of four runners, for five-time winning mare Destiny Cove (Dubai Destination), a mare who’s had her own chequered passage in the breeding barn.
After throwing her star progeny in 2018, Destiny Cove had no foal from 2019 until 2022, when she bore a sister to La Crique who’s yet to be named. She now has a weanling colt by Circus Maximus (Galileo).
La Crique is the sole Group 1 winner among six stakes victors for Rich Hill Stud’s 12-year-old Vadamos, who currently sits in a personal-best 15th place on the New Zealand general sires’ table, with 23 winners from 69 runners, and with La Crique his lone stakes winner.
In Australia, Vadamos has 40 winners from 73 runners through four crops racing, with no black-type victors.