El Vencedor in his element with Livamol distance and venue
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • October 17th, 2025 10:24 AM • 4 min read
El Vencedor has a couple of significant factors in his favour as the reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year shoots for his fifth Group One win in Saturday’s Livamol Classic.
The first of those factors is the distance, which rises from the 1400 metres of the Proisir Plate and 1600 metres of the Howden Insurance Mile up to 2040 metres this weekend.
Statistics may show that El Vencedor’s only previous attempt at this exact distance produced an unplaced finish behind Snazzytavi in last year’s Livamol at Te Rapa.
However, his six starts over 2000 metres have yielded four wins including the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes, two editions of the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes and the Gr.3 Balmerino Stakes. He also ran third in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic on Boxing Day.
The other big plus for El Vencedor is the fact that this year’s Livamol is being run at Ellerslie. The son of Shocking has won five of his seven starts at the Auckland track, all of them at stakes level – the Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic, those two editions of the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes, the Balmerino Stakes and the Listed Fulton Family Stakes.
The seven-year-old’s trainer Stephen Marsh is looking forward to getting him back to his favourite course and distance for Saturday’s $550,000 showpiece.
“Going back up to 2000 metres and being back at Ellerslie are really key,” the Cambridge trainer told RaceForm.
“I’ve been happy with his performances in those first two legs of the Triple Crown. His first-up run in the Proisir at Ellerslie was great (finishing fifth, two lengths behind Quintessa). He wasn’t bad in the second one either (seventh, four lengths adrift of Waitak). I think that run at Te Rapa just showed that he really prefers good footing these days.
“It looks like we’ll have some nice weather later in the week leading into Ellerslie. A track around that Good4 or Soft5 level will be ideal for him.
“As far as everything he’s doing at home goes, he’s just kept getting better and better with each race under his belt.
“Wiremu Pinn rides him again, he gets on well with the horse. I think El Vencedor could be the real improver heading into the third leg of the series.”
The TAB fixed-odds market shares that belief. After jumping as a $4.90 chance in the Proisir and $7.30 in the Howden Insurance Mile, El Vencedor was on Tuesday rated a $3.50 second favourite for the Livamol behind the Howden winner Waitak ($3.30). Ladies Man was on the third line at $4.50, followed by Legarto and Quintessa (both $6).
The top end of that market is dominated by Rich Hill Stud stallions, with El Vencedor being a son of Shocking while Waitak is the progeny of Proisir.
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