Count Cristo is just as good a chance as stablemate Nikisha in Monday's $350,000 Auckland Cup, warns Waikato trainer Katrina Alexander.
Nikisha burst to the fore of cup discussions when winning the traditional lead-up race, the group two $100,000 Queen Elizabeth Handicap (2400m) at Ellerslie on Tuesday.
Count Cristo finished eighth in the same race but had no luck. He was in the rear turning for home and after being held up for a run in the straight ran on to be less than four lengths from Nikisha at the finish.
The TAB last night had Nikisha the equal fourth favourite at a dividend of $12 on its fixed-odds market but listed Count Cristo an outsider at $30.
Alexander said she finds it hard to rate one horse better than the other.
"All along we have said we can't split them."
She said Nikisha probably had a little more brilliance and that was a telling factor in the Queen Elizabeth.
"Nikisha can sprint through a gap but Count Cristo needs to get rolling before he can produce a finish."
Alexander said she has no concerns with either horse at the 3200m distance of the cup.
"They are both economic horses during the running and there should be no problems with the two miles for either of them."
"Neither over-race and can produce a finish when asked."
"They are both very laidback. Neither are stunning individuals to look at in the flesh but they are both true blue racehorses."
The differences in the two horses was their temperaments.
"Nikisha is a very serious horse. She gives 110 per cent in any work and is an out and out racehorse.
"Count Cristo is more a country boy, a bit of lad at times. He has very firm ideas about what he will and won't do and who he will and won't get on with."
Alexander has been training only three years. She spent about seven years working for trainer Murray Baker when he was stationed at Woodville and said that had been her only racing experience.
Alexander has already been associated with one good horse. That was Mi Babe who won a group three 1600m race for three-year-old fillies at Ellerslie two years ago.
She acknowledged that Count Cristo and Nikisha provide her the chances of a lifetime in the cup.
"It's a bit of thrill to have two in it that are good chances."
Count Cristo, a six-year-old gelding by Kaaptive Edition, showed he can cope with 3200m when beating all but Smiling Like in the New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton last month.
Alexander said that effort was all the more creditable considering she had not planned to race the horse in the New Zealand Cup.
Nikisha had been her first choice for the race but when she developed a foot infection Count Cristo was elevated to stable representative.
"That was a bit of last minute decision and he had a hurried preparation in the week leading up to it," Alexander said.
Nikisha, a Lord Ballina five-year-old mare, could not have been more impressive in winning the Queen Elizabeth. She came from well back to storm down the outside and bury many of her cup rivals.
Six of the next seven home are in the cup. They were Ebony Honor (second), Paddy Maloney (fourth), Smiling Like (fifth), Magic Winner (sixth), No Alimony (seventh) and Count Cristo (eighth).
- NZPA
Racing: Stablemates give trainer realistic chances in cup
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