Cosmic Crusader completes Melbourne feature double

Former Western Australian star Cosmic Crusader (NZ) (Maurice) kept his perfect Melbourne record intact and completed a rare feature double in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.2 Catanach’s Jewellers PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.

Bred in New Zealand by his high-profile Perth owner Bob Peters, Cosmic Crusader had won last month’s Gr.3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) in his only previous Melbourne appearance. Saturday’s victory made him only the fourth horse to complete the Bletchingly-Lawrence double, joining Super Elegant (Mister C) (2003), Apache Cat (Lion Cavern) (2007) and Shoot Out (High Chaparral) (2010).

Cosmic Crusader made a big first impression on Melbourne audiences with his two-and-a-half-length victory in the Bletchingly, and despite meeting much stronger opposition on Saturday, he stepped out as a $2.50 favourite.

Leading Perth jockey William Pike flew across the country to take the ride, and Cosmic Crusader took up a midfield position as Evaporate (NZ) (Per Incanto) showed the way up to the home turn.

Pike angled Cosmic Crusader into the clear at the top of the straight, and he quickly had Evaporate in his sights.

Cosmic Crusader lengthened stride and surged past Evaporate, then turned back a strong challenge along the inside from A$12 million earner Private Eye (Al Maher) to win by three-quarters of a length.

“That was very nice,” Pike said. “Thanks very much to the connections for offering me the ride today. He was too good a ride to pass up.

“The horse was fantastic and has a lovely stride. We found a nice position behind a good, even pace.

“I got him into the clear and he took over from there. He was going easily and just took me for a ride.”

Now trained at Pakenham by Andrea Leek for prominent Perth owner Bob Peters, Cosmic Crusader has had 19 starts for 10 wins, five placings and A$1.81 million in stakes.

Leek will now point the six-year-old towards the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 29.

“I was a bit worried about how far back he was in the running today, but he’s a lovely horse with a lot of ability,” she said. “I thought he’d come on from that first-up run in the Bletchingly, and hopefully he can come on a bit more from this one too.

“We’re lucky that we’ve got our hills at home, and he’ll be working around them between now and the Memsie. It’s only two weeks between runs, so he won’t need to do a lot. Hopefully he can come back for the Memsie and be as good or better than he was today.”

Peters made a relatively rare cross-country journey to be at Caulfield for Saturday’s race.

“I was a bit worried when he was pulling in the run, but once Willie got him to the outside, I could see that he was on the job,” Peters said. “The Memsie is the obvious way to go now. He had to get through this one to get there, but he’s done it well.”

Previously an eight-race winner in Perth including last December’s Gr.1 Northerly Stakes (1800m), Cosmic Crusader is by Maurice out of the Street Sense mare Cosmic Storm, whose seven wins included the Gr.3 La Trice Classic (1800m) and three Listed races. Cosmic Storm is a half-sister to three stakes winners including the Gr.1 Cantala Stakes (1600m) winner Superstorm (Sebring).

While in New Zealand, Cosmic Storm was served by Windsor Park Stud stallion Charm Spirit. The resulting filly foal was named Cosmic Spirit and has placed in four of her five starts to date for Cosmic Crusader’s former trainer Michael Grantham.