Crockett Looking For Rejuvenated Leovanni To Step Up Again
Cameron Crockett is a very hands on trainer and he knew something wasn’t quite right with Leovanni (NZ) (Leovanni) when she returned to work for her second preparation with him.
He’d spent $40,000 to buy the mare, but in her first two starts she was being hesitant at the jump in country maidens, costing her any chance, and he wondered if he’d done the right thing.
Cut to present day and Leovanni heads to Randwick on Saturday looking for four straight wins, stepping out of Highway grade, in the MM Electrical Handicap (1600m).
If only horses could talk. It was discovered that Leovanni was feeling her back and a decision by Crockett’s vet Jess Sheppard to give the mare an injection in her sacroiliac joint seemingly changed everything, and the rest is history.
“Within three weeks she was a different horse, she still had her tendencies to go a bit hard but she was much happier in herself,’’ Crockett said.
“I’ve been taken back mostly by how good she is.
“I knew if I got her right we were going to see her win races, but you couldn’t fathom her turning around and winning three in four weeks and two Highways.”
The five-year-old has been part of a real purple patch for the Scone trainer who has prepared 10 winners from his last 13 runners.
Crockett says Leovanni is a tough mare, the kind of mare his dad Max would throw him on when he was learning to ride.
She has her quirks at home on the track and clearly she’s feeling well physically and mentally because Crockett says all Leovanni is telling him is she’s ready to go again.
“She is a very hard horse to ride,’’ he said.
“I grew up with horses like her, these are the sort of horses I learned to ride on. Dad used to get them all the time.
“We’ve got her in a good routine when she goes off to the track. I canter her one lap which is very tricky, I don’t think I’d be able to canter her two because she’d be off and gone in the second one.
“I’m also lucky I have a good trackrider.
“You can’t overthink it, we’ve just let her do it. Even the quick back ups, you say she's raced three times in four weeks but the advantage is you don’t have to do anything in between.
“She is very tough so she is a horse you can do this with.”
The task for Leovanni, $9 with bookies on Thursday, is no doubt a tougher one than her Tamworth maiden and two Highway wins but Crockett said another lesson he’s learned, this one from Tracey Bartley, is not to be afraid to give a horse a challenge especially when they’re down in the weights.
She’ll drop to 52.5kg and while coming back from 1800m to the mile she’s shown in her wins that she can come back under the jockey and settle or be made some use of on the speed, as she did last start at Randwick.
“If they’ve got the ability you throw them in the deep end,’’ he said.
“She was very seasoned and very low grade and that was in her corner.
“The biggest trump card is she’s got 52.5kg. When you get down below the minimum I think that’s when you get a real advantage.
“Races with not a lot of pressure bring a lot of good horses undone. She was out the back over racing and not comfortable but she found her rhythm with more pressure in a race.
“She’s 1800m back to 1600m but she’s going to Saturday grade, where there should be some pressure, with less weight.”
Leovanni is by Proisir out of the winning Colombia mare Amparo (NZ), who is a three-quarter-sister to stakes winner Aimee’s Idol. The latter is the dam of Proisir’s Group Three-winning daughter Aimee’s Jewel, while the pedigree page also features the multiple black-type winners Irish Girl (NZ) and Ready To Strike (NZ).
Leovanni was originally offered by Kilgravin Lodge at the 2023 NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, where Blandford Bloodstock and Andrew Williams Bloodstock bought her for $210,000.
