Dual Group 1-winning Kiwi mare La Crique retired

New Zealand mare La Crique, one of the most consistent horses in Australasian racing, has been retired.

The dual Group One winner has been hampered with foot issues over the past couple of years, with a decision made on Monday to bring the curtain down on her racing career following her fourth-place run in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

“She is still putting in some terrific races and even on Boxing Day she ran a terrific race,” said Katrina Alexander, who trained the seven-year-old mare in partnership with her husband Simon.

“However, she hasn’t pulled up from that as well as we would have hoped so we X-rayed her foot this (Monday) morning, the same foot that has caused her problems for the last two years, and she has degeneration of the foot tissue inside the hoof capsule.

“I have been waiting for a sign for her to tell me that this (racing) just isn’t possible anymore, so it was a really easy decision in the end.”

La Crique flashed onto the scene as a three-year-old, winning five and placing in three of her eight starts that season.

She was a beaten short-priced favourite when runner-up to Asterix in the New Zealand Derby (2400m) but got her Group 1 redemption seven months later in the Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) before heading across the Tasman where she ran fourth in the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

She added a further two Group 1 placings to her record later that season before foot issues, resulting from an abscess, led to ongoing problems for the mare.

The Alexanders’ hard work behind the scenes led to La Crique returning to career-best form, with the mare going on to win the Group 1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) and Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) before posting six consecutive Group 1 second placings.