Eagle lands third Queen’s Plate win
Now for the Met!
“All the pressure, all the expectations, and all the success!” gushed race caller Alistair Cohen as the world witnessed Legal Eagle score his third consecutive triumph in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate at Kenilworth on Saturday, impressively extending his unbeaten record over 1600m to eight outings!
This took Legal Eagle’s career earnings to over R10.5 million, extraordinary figures, but the cherry on top for his new owners was the fact that this was Braam van Huyssteen’s first Grade 1 win. A cause for celebration considering he’s been in the game for more than a decade.
Approaching the 300m mark, hearts nearly stopped beating and many punters feared their Pick 6 banker would fail to make it to the finish line on time, but class prevailed. Jockey Anton Marcus summed it up beautifully stating, “I was sitting on a very special horse today.”
Captain America (8-1) was all business, setting a fast pace early. He was followed by It Is Written (100-1) and the tote favourite Legal Eagle (7-10) was stationed in third place.
Corne Orffer rode Captain America to a 5.60 length advantage passing 400m, but the son of Captain Al couldn’t maintain the pace and his stride shortened.
Seeing this, Marcus asked Legal Eagle to run and boy did he run! Sean Tarry’s charge was all guts, producing his best performance yet, fending off a group of fast finishers to win by 0.40 lengths. Runner-up Copper Force (50-1) could be worth an Eachway bet next time. He had a lot against him, drawn widest of all, faced traffic in running, plus he had 9.70 lengths to make up for at the 400m. Captain America held on long enough to deny stable companion Sail South (22-1) third. Marinaresco ran a cracking Sun Met prep and wasn’t disgraced, falling just 0.90 lengths into fifth place. “I felt the least pressure than I’ve ever felt with Legal Eagle because everything just went smoothly. I had a lot of confidence in him today,” said trainer Sean Tarry. This year’s Met will be run under weightfor-age conditions. As a result, much will be in Legal Eagle’s favour. If there’s ever a time he can with the Met, a race that’s eluded him over the past two years - it’s this this year!