Former American race mare Aldebaran Acrux will be aiming for Group 1 glory when she tackles next month’s $100,000 Macarthur Mile at Menangle.
Despite racing three wide without cover for the last 1000 metres of the race, the Chris Svanosio trained and driven six- year-old outstayed her rivals in the Aldebaran Park Trot scoring by two metres from Avant Guard and Destrier in a mile rate of 1:58.5.
Svanosio said the daughter of Chapter Seven had taken time to acclimatise after arriving from America 18 months ago.
“It took her a fair while for her to settle in when she first came from America and it’s amazing what she has developed into,” Svanosio said.
“She seems to have adapted to the Southern Hemisphere and we’re very proud of her,” he said.
Svanosio acknowledged the strength shown by the winner.
“It’s pretty hard sitting three wide for a lap and you don’t do it very often and win and for her to keep sticking her head out in the straight I was really rapt with her,” he said.
“She’s a tough mare who has a lot of bottom to her.”
Svanosio outlined plans for Aldebaran Acrux to contest the Group 1 Macarthur Mile.
“There’s that big trotting mares’ mile race coming up at Menangle and it’s not far away so we’ll just plot a path towards that in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“She proven that she’s not far off the very best ones and we’ll try and have her up in Sydney as best as we can and hopefully she can go close up there.”