Alamosa Prepares for Cox Plate Litmus Test
Story By NZTM
Friday, 15 August 2008: A New Zealand Gr.1 winner at two and a dual Gr.1 winner at three, Alamosa will receive his 4YO Australian pipe-opener in Saturday's Gr.2 Liston Stakes in Melbourne.
However, whilst his part-owner Bill Gleeson expects Alamosa will make a bold account of himself against the crack-a-jack field containing Weekend Hussler, it is his Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) goal on October 25 that he believes should be the entire's true litmus test.
"Our ultimate aim that he is being geared towards is the Cox Plate in October. His trainer Mick Price says he is in terrific order, but anything he does on Saturday, he is going to take natural improvement from," said Gleeson.
"That said, the horse is not one to shirk a challenge. Despite the potential risk to his sire credentials, he's been thrown in the deep end many times during his career and has regularly come out with flying colours.
"He defied the best of his own age-group, and then did the same against the older horses in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) and the Gr.1 Otaki Maori WFA (1600m), effectively becoming the first 3YO in 20 years to win the Thorndon".
Subsequently purchased by an all New Zealand venture containing just about every major stud you can think of, the decision was made that the athletic galloper should see if he could add to his sire credentials with Australian black-type.
"He'd already won three Gr.1's, so in my eyes there was nothing more he needed to do to prove himself in New Zealand. So in fairness to the horse, we decided to send him to Australia to give him the opportunity to extend his already impressive race record against the best they have to offer," Gleeson added.
Safely through Saturday's assignment, Alamosa will have his next start in the Gr.2 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m).
Set to stand at Wellfield Lodge in 2009, victory in the Cox Plate would surely provide a huge boost to the Central Districts sire ranks, a region previously distinguished by the great sires Pakistan II, Kingdom Bay and Centaine.
Classically Waikato Stud bred, Alamosa offers breeders an enviable topline containing two of New Zealand's most successful sires in O'Reilly and Centaine - a pre-potent sire combination that has to date produced a 77.3 per cent winners-to-runners ratio and six stakes winners.
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