Trainers eye Queen Elizabeth Stakes for fast-flying Lizzie L’Amour

A trip across to the rich Sydney autumn carnival is being considered for Lizzie L’Amour, the winner of Saturday’s group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa.

A rain-soaked track did not dampen the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained mare’s excellent summer form as as she raced away to win the 2000m feature by more than five lengths.

Baker is likely to line his star mare up in next month’s 2000m Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie.

"She has a nomination for the Auckland Cup, but I think she’ll go to the Bonecrusher instead," he said.

"We’ll put in a nomination for the Queen Elizabeth in Sydney and see how long she holds up."

A trip to the Queen Elizabeth Stakes could offer Lizzie L’Amour a chance for redemption after her troubled Melbourne spring campaign.

Nothing went right for her when she put in inexplicably poor runs in the Geelong and Cranbourne Cups and failed to qualify for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

"She’s been right in form ever since she came back from Australia; things just didn’t work out for her there," Forsman said.

"She’s flying at the moment and she won that pretty easily."

Rain  before  Saturday’s meeting had trainer JJ Rayner thinking her star sprinter Start Wondering’s winning chances were washing away.

But the horse handled the slow Te Rapa track comfortably and clung on for a narrow win in the BCD Sprint.

"It’s amazing. When it rained, we thought we didn’t have a show," Rayner, who trains the horse in partnership with her father, Evan, said.

Rider Johnathan Parkes had Start Wondering patiently poised behind the leaders before asking him for a serious effort in the home straight. The sprinter quickly went past Packing Eagle, who fought doggedly to be within a half a length of him at the finish. Star filly Dijon Bleu quashed questions over whether she could run a strong 2000m on a rain-affected track with a brilliant win in Saturday’s group 2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic.

The 3yr-old produced a big finish to win ahead of placegetters Mark Two and Milseain.

But that did not necessarily mean Dijon Bleu would definitely head to the New Zealand Oaks, trainer Lisa Latta said.

"We’ll head to the Lowland Stakes first and take it from there; she’s been up a long time."

Dijon Bleu was making her first start beyond a mile at Te Rapa and she took it all in her stride. Rider Jonathan Riddell had her beyond midfield and when gaps opened in the straight, she charged to the front 300m from home.

"I said to Jonathan to put her to sleep somewhere so she could relax," Latta said.

"There’s a lot of fillies in there bred to stay and she’s not, but she has got a blistering turn of foot."

Dijon Bleu is part-owned by Southlanders Kevin Dixon, Trevor Tomlins and Peter Finlayson.  They share ownership  with Latta and three Palmerston North people.

— additional reporting NZ Racing Desk

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