Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander will head to Hastings with a spring in their step on Saturday knowing the weather forecast won’t dampen their spirits ahead of the first leg of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
This time last year, the couple were ruing the inclement weather, which hampered La Crique’s spring preparation.
Despite an unideal build-up, the daughter of Vadamos ran third first-up in the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) before winning the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at the transferred Matamata meeting.
The Alexanders are welcoming the good weather forecast in the lead-up to the Westbury Stud-sponsored Tarzino Trophy on Saturday and believe the milder winter has aided their mare’s preparation.
“It is much more what we all want to see. It’s certainly a truer spring than what we had last year,” Katrina Alexander said.
“We have a bit more confidence in the fact that her preparation up until now has been pretty faultless as opposed to last year when we were battling with galloping surfaces and even just training surfaces. It was just so wet everywhere.
“We have been able to do the work we have wanted to do on the right footing all the way through.”
La Crique echoed those thoughts with her eye-catching trial at Taupo last month where she flashed home late to finish runner-up in her 1100m heat behind Aromatic.
“The trial at Taupo confirmed we were on the right track with her,” Alexander said.
“We achieved what we wanted to achieve, and we were very happy with the stage of her preparation we were at. She has trained on beautifully since her trial. She seems to be a happy horse.
“Craig Grylls (jockey) came over and galloped her this (Tuesday) morning. We did have rain overnight and into the morning, which made it a softish track, but she had a nice hit-out and he was very happy with her when he got off.
“We believe she is moving better now than what she was during her prep last time.”
While pleased with her mare ahead of the weekend, Alexander is wary of her opposition, which includes the likes of multiple Group One winners Sharp ‘N’ Smart, Legarto, Pennyweka and Callsign Mav.
“It is a strong line-up. It is a true field of what you would expect,” she said.
“Like a lot of others, we will wait to see how we come out of it before deciding on what we plan to do next. It will give us a good line.
“I am just hoping that she gets the opportunity to put in a good performance, which she will naturally gain benefit from.
“We don’t have any immediate plans to go over to Australia. We have kept it very open-ended after the Tarzino as to what happens next.
“We will just have to see where she sits after Saturday and make a plan after that.”
Meanwhile, Alexander is enjoying the stable’s recent move to Te Awamutu, saying it offers a quieter and more economical environment for her barn.
“We have been here a couple of weeks and that has all gone smoothly. The horses are all happy,” she said.
“I thought there were horses amongst ours that would benefit from the quieter atmosphere and that seems to be the case.
“I am just pleased with the way the whole team has settled in. I don’t appear to have any horse at this stage that says they don’t like the environment.
“The key horses that we have that are ready to go early have all slotted in and have been eating well and missed no work.
“We had a set of trials here last week and lined-up five runners and had three winners, so that was a good indicator that they are progressing well. I think it has been a good move."