Alalcance winning the Asahi Super Dry N E Manion Cup at Rosehill in Australia. Picture: Bradley photos
Prominent South African owner Larry Nestadt is becoming familiar with the winner’s enclosure out in Australia and could have a genuine Melbourne Cup contender on his hands in the form of British-bred Mastercraftsman mare Alalcance.
On March 8 Nestadt had a Gr 1 and Listed win back to back at Randwick with Royal Patronage and Alalcance over 1300m and 2000m respectively, both horses trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
On Saturday Alalcance stepped up to 2400m in a Gr 3 and she looks to have Melbourne Cup credentials as she led from start to finish and waltzed in by 4,40 length. The win saw her near the top of the boards for the Sydney Cup.
The Drakenstein colours were also successful in Australia on Saturday with a three-year-old filly called Heat Missile. She won one from two starts when with Robbie Griffiths and Matt de Kock and won her debut on Saturday for the Waterhouse-Bott yard in a 1200m race at Kembla Grange under claimer Molly Bourke, despite being green.
This filly is by Too Darn Hot out of the Australian-bred More Than Ready mare Entisaar, who won both the Gr 2 SA Fillies Nursery and Gr 1 Allan Robertson when trained by Mike de Kock.
Heat Missile is owned by Mike de Kock in partnership with Drakenstein, Nestadt and Gary Barber and looks to have a lot of promise.
