By Heather Anderson
The 2000-metre G1 Bonecrusher New Zealand S. at Ellerslie on Thursday was supposed to be Kawi (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus})'s for the taking, but Zabeel (NZ)'s Lizzie L'Amour (NZ) capitalized on the traffic woes of the 70-cent favourite and defeated Benzini (Aus) (Tale of the Cat) by a short head, with Sound Proposition (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) rounding out the top three 1 1/2 lengths behind. It was the 46th Group 1 winner for the late Cambridge Stud stallion, who surpassed his own sire Sir Tristram (Ire) (Sir Ivor)'s tally with the victory.
Sent off at $8.90, Lizzie L'Amour stalked three deep in a messy charge into the first turn in fourth and drifted farther back in the field, but was still traveling sweetly at the 800-metre mark. Quickening nicely, the hooded mare spun four off the fence turning into the home straight as G1 Zabeel Classic heroine Consensus (NZ) (Postponed) took over from pacesetter Authentic Paddy (NZ) (Howbaddouwantit). Kawi, full of run, was bottled up until the final 100 metres, when any of five had a shot, but Lizzie L'Amour showed the sharpest turn of foot, getting up in a thriller over Benzini. The favourite had to settle for fifth, one behind Consensus.
“This is unbelievable and I'm just so thrilled,” Lorna Moore, who bred and co-owns the mare with her husband Gary, told www.nzracing.co.nz. “It's not only a Group 1 for us and Lizzie, but it's also for Zabeel, who was tied with his sire Sir Tristram for individual Group 1 winners up until now, so this one is for him as well. I would have been happy to just run a place, but this means everything to a small breeder.”
Added Andrew Forsman, who trains with Murray Baker, “It was a very good effort as they went hard at it leaving the straight the first time and it got quite messy. Thankfully she got the job done and is a Group 1 winner now. She's got it all ahead of her, so now it's a matter of finding the right distance for her, as if she can get to 2400 metres, then a [G1] Caulfield Cup could be a spring target for her.”
A winner of three of her seven starts this campaign prior to the New Zealand S. highlighted by a first group score in the G3 Waikato Cup at Te Rapa Dec. 10, Lizzie L'Amour disappointed when 14th in the G3 City of Auckland Cup locally on New Year's Day. The bay rebounded with a second in a 1600-metre handicap at Matamata Feb. 25.
Pedigree Notes…
A daughter of multiple champion Australasian wonder-sire Zabeel, who resided at Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud until his death in 2015 (click here), Lizzie L'Amour is the fourth foal of her unraced dam Sabia, who has a 3-year-old filly named Fun Seeker (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), but she missed to Ocean Park (NZ) in 2014 and slipped to Poet's Voice (GB) and Shamexpress (NZ) in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Sabia is a full-sister to Italian highweight and Group 1 winner Saddex (GB) (Sadler's Wells), who also won a Group 1 in Germany and was runner up in the G1 Prix Ganay, was bred to Makfi (GB) this past fall. Lizzie L'Amour's third dam is the top producer and G1 Phoenix S. heroine Aviance (Ire) (Northfields), responsible for European highweight Chimes of Freedom (Private Account), MGISW Denon (Pleasant Colony), and SW & G1SP Imperfect Circle (Riverman), herself the dam of European highweight and GI Breeders' Cup Mile hero Spinning World (Nureyev).
Thursday, Ellerslie, New Zealand
NEW ZEALAND S.-G1, NZ$200,000, ARC, 3-16, Open WFA, 2000mT, 2:03.64, Dead.
1–&LIZZIE L'AMOUR, 57.0, m, 4, by Zabeel
1st Dam: Sabia (FR), by Sadler's Wells (USA)
2nd Dam: Remote Romance (USA), by Irish River (FR)
3rd Dam: Aviance (IRE), by Northfields (USA)
O-G J & Mrs L M Moore; B-Mrs L M Moore, Waikato, NZ; T-M
Baker & A Forsman; J-M Cameron; NZ$120,000. Lifetime
Record: 11-5-1-1, NZ$221,960. *Full to Al Shameel (Zabeel),
MSP-Aus & NZ. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Benzini (AUS), 59.0, g, 7, Tale of the Cat–Paris Perfume
(AUS), by Kurofune (USA). (A$25,000 Ylg 2011 MM National
Yearling Sale) O-A M Bull; B-Emirates Park Pty Ltd NSW; T-A &
H Bull; J-R J Myers; NZ$39,000.
3–Sound Proposition, 59.0, g, 5, Savabeel (AUS)–Ebony Babe,
by Ebony Grosve. O-C P, J, Mrs S E & T G Tobin, Hon I Trayling
Oam & R Trayling; B-Mrs S E & T G Tobin & R Trayling,
Auckland, NZ; T-L O'Sullivan & A Scott; J-M T Coleman;
NZ$19,000.
Margins: 0.1 len, 1.6 len, 1.7 len. Odds: 8.90, 15.30, 32.00.
Also Ran: Consensus, Kawi, Von Tunzelman, Authentic Paddy, Maygrove (AUS), Sierra Beel, Seventeen Seventy.
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
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