Cosmic Crusader shines in Melbourne debut

The prestigious and lucrative Spring Carnival has lured Cosmic Crusader (NZ) (Maurice) to Victoria, and the Group One-winning Western Australian made a big first impression on Melbourne in Saturday’s A$200,000 Gr.3 The Big Screen Company Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.

Bred in New Zealand by his high-profile Perth owner Bob Peters, Cosmic Crusader had already shown his star quality in Western Australia, where his 17 starts had produced eight wins including the Gr.1 Northerly Stakes (1800m) on December 6.

Saturday’s first-up assignment was some 600m short of that distance, and it came after 224 days on the sidelines since he last raced in December. But Cosmic Crusader wasted no time in making his mark on Australia’s eastern seaboard.

Sent out as a $3.60 favourite, Cosmic Crusader was ridden by Daniel Stackhouse and sat in second-last along the inside as Winnasedge (Cliff's Edge) and Zou Sensation (Zoustar) showed the way.

Stackhouse stayed closer to the rail when the field angled towards the centre of the track at the home turn, and he let Cosmic Crusader rip in the straight.

The five-year-old charged through on the inside of Winnasedge within a few powerful strides, taking the lead with just under 200m to run. The result was in no doubt from that point on as Cosmic Crusader bounded clear to win by two and a half lengths under a hands-and-heels ride.

“He’s beautiful,” Stackhouse said. “As soon as I sat on him and cantered down in the prelim, he just dropped his head and gave me a beautiful feel. He switched off lovely.

“He jumped nicely and I just rode him where he was comfortable. He has a beautiful, big action on him.

“I was happy to stay towards the inside, I thought the ground was fine there. He made up so much ground in about three strides, and I knew we had the race won pretty easily from there. When you ask him to go, he can really quicken and accelerate very fast.

“Credit to Mr Peters for sending him over. He’s got better races to win than this, but it’s a nice kick-off point for the team.”

Previously trained by Michael Grantham, Cosmic Crusader is now in the care of Andrea Leek at Pakenham.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Leek said. “The Peters family have been enormous for my stable. For them to give me this horse and entrust me with him, I can’t thank them enough. I’m just thrilled and so grateful.

“We’ve done a lot of hill work with this horse leading into this campaign. It’s been a real team effort.

“Daniel rode him a treat today. He rode him to win but also rode him to get further distances than this.

“Races like the Lawrence (Gr.2, 1400m) and Memsie (Gr.1, 1400m) are coming up, but I’ll talk to Bob and let him map it out. We’ll enjoy today and look forward to what’s ahead.”

Cosmic Crusader’s 18-race career has now produced nine wins, five placings and A$1.64 million in stakes.

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.

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.