Karaka Graduate Lekvarte Wins G3 Aspiration

Quality Karaka graduate Lekvarte (NZ) (Reliable Man) produced an extraordinary finish to add a second stakes win to her CV in Saturday’s A$250,000 Group Three Mostyncopper Aspiration Quality (1600m) at Randwick.

The five-year-old mare also won the Group Three Belle of the Turf Stakes (1600m) at Gosford earlier in the season, and she has now earned A$756,430 from a 27-start career that has produced eight wins and five placings. She was a $210,000 purchase from Westbury Stud’s draft in Book 1 of Karaka 2020.

Ridden by Tommy Berry, Lekvarte was slow to leave the starting gates and found herself at the back of the full field of 17. She began to warm up approaching the home turn, but came up behind a wall of horses and was struggling to find a way through.

Berry eventually secured a passage out into clear air, and then he let Lekvarte rip. The Joe Pride-trained mare roared home down the middle of the Randwick straight, hitting the lead inside the final 50 metres and winning by three-quarters of a length.

“No matter how much I try and wake her up in the barriers, she just flops out,” Berry said. “So she doesn’t really give herself a chance in the early stages of her races. But when you’ve got a mare that can let down like she does, it opens up a lot of doors.

“I was in the middle of the ruck in the straight and didn’t know where we were going to go, but I just banked on her ability and had to ride her patient. I knew I had a horse with a better turn of foot than anyone else in the race.

“It’s great to do it for the owners, who are good friends of mine and have been waiting to get a horse like this for a long time, so it’s awesome.”