El Rada ready to take on Melbourne for Archie Alexander
ACRHIE Alexander is confident the lessons learned by the lightly-raced El Rada at Ballarat will hold the mare in good stead as the horse makes its metropolitan debut at Sandown today.
After displaying dominant form in the country, which has seen the mare finish first or second in four of its six career starts, the Alexander team has decided to bring the talented prospect to the city.
The trainer elected to skip Thursday’s meet at Pakenham in order to tackle the National Apprentice Riders benchmark 64 race at Sandown, race 3 from 2.30pm where El Rada is the +160 second favourite at Crownbet.com.au.
The short odds are not unfamiliar to the Hard Spun progeny, which has not started beyond the $3 quote in 2017.
Alexander believes the racing experience coming out of Ballart will hold his four-year-old in good stead at Sandown.
“She’s going very well,” Alexander told HorseBetting.com.au.
“Today is her first go in Melbourne, the race is quite tough.
She is racing against (Bastille) David Hayes’ horse, which looks pretty good on paper, but it’s a maiden going into a handicap and we’re actually quite tough now. We’ve had a few runs and she’s probably a bit harder than a lot of horses coming out of a maiden.”
The race at Sandown will be the first time in five races that regular hoop Michael Dee will not be in the saddle.
Despite El Rada pairing alongside an apprentice jockey who has never steered the mare, the trainer is confident his horse has the ability to overcome the new surroundings.
“It’s not going to be easy, it is an apprentice race where you don’t pick the jockey,” Alexander lamented.
“It’s probably the same for everyone but it is not ideal that the jockey (Emily Finnegan) has never ridden at the track or on the horse either.
“Having said that, I can see her going really well and going very close.”
It is El Rada’s first attempt outside a country race meet in six races, but Alexander said there was never a mindset of protecting the horse from the metropolitan meets.
Alexander said being based in Ballart gave the team the flexibility to pick the races that best suited his mare.
“Not really,” the trainer said of the pathway from country meets to metropolitan cards.
“She’s not rated 70 yet, so she’s only just scrapping in to a mid-week, so there’s never really been a race for her, but we’ve just been trying to pick and choose our races.
“She’s got a very good record at Ballarat, she’s only run outside first or second once in four attempts at the track, and obviously we train at Ballarat so it is easier to get her to run there.”
El Rada races over the 1200m, which has been the distance the mare has confronted for the majority of its burgeoning career.
Alexander said the sprint trip is the ideal journey for his mare.
“She’s a brother to Beau Rada, and he’s obviously a quick horse who runs at Moonee Valley in the 955m and 1200ms.
“So she’s not going to get much further.”
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