Tarry assesses Legal Eagle’s new 120 rating as correct
FIT: THE RANDJESFONTEIN TRAINER HAS FIVE RUNNERS IN THIS YEAR'S DURBAN JULY Legal Eagle and French Navy will travel to Durban on Thursday next week.
There’s been some debate whether Vodacom Durban July favourite Legal Eagle was given too harsh a penalty for winning the Jubilee Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein 10 days ago.
The SA Derby winner was handed eight points or 4kg in the merit ratings for that impressive win under 60.5kg, making him the joint highest-rated horse in the country alongside year-older Durban July top weight Futura. In the Jubilee Legal Eagle gave runner-up Judicial (rated 101) 3.5kg and beat him by 4.30 lengths.
Because the Durban July weights were announced before the Jubilee Handicap, in terms of the conditions Legal Eagle will carry the 54kg he was allotted when his merit rating was 112 and on the handicap he is the bestweighted runner in the field.
His trainer, Sean Tarry, believes the handicappers are about spot-on in their assessment.
“On that run Legal Eagle achieved 120 or very close to it,” he said. “Yes, he ran well above his previous rating but on a line of form through Rushmore River, a very consistent individual who finished fifth, he gives the impression the handicappers are right.”
Tarry said Legal Eagle’s preparation is going flawlessly. “He’s done everything asked of him, has improved in leaps and bounds and is still a bit immature. We’ve got to get through the next week and a half and have still got to travel to Durban, but I couldn’t be much happier with him.”
Tarry’s 2013 Durban July winner Heavy Metal followed much the same route as Legal Eagle, running second in the Jubilee Handicap that year and the trainer commented: “The Jubilee Handicap has been good to me Durban July-wise. I’ve had three previous runners come out of the Jubilee to run good races in the Durban July. Apart from Heavy Metal, Halve The Deficit got collared on the post in the Jubilee last year and was only beaten 3.95 lengths in a slow-run Durban July while Bound By Honour ran fifth in the Jubilee and then third to July dead-heaters Pocket Power and Dancer’s Daughter.”
Tarry’s one query is the Greyville track. “He has shown a liking for Turffontein and we can only hope he is effective at Greyville.” .
Legal Eagle and French Navy will have their final hard workouts in their official gallop, which will be shown on Tellytrack tomorrow, and will travel to Durban from Randjesfontein on Thursday next week.
French Navy has also done little wrong in his lead-up to the Durban July. He won the SA Classic and finished third behind Legal Eagle in the SA Derby. He went on to win the Daily News 2000 in “breath-taking fashion”.
This year trainers have been given a week longer between the Daily News 2000 and the Durban July and Tarry believes the timing “has worked out really well”.
He said: “Both Legal Eagle and French Navy are quite switchedoff horses and are not flashy in their work, but come raceday they know what they’re there for.”
The only possible negative concerning French Navy, he said, is that he is being forced to travel.
“When I took him down for the Daily News 2000 the Polytrack at Summerveld was too firm for him, so I made a judgment call to bring him back to Randjesfontein.”
Tarry is also set to saddle Halve The Deficit, Tamaanee and Gold Onyx, all of whom are already in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Halve The Deficit’s preparation has been very good. He won the same Pinnacle Plate that Heavy Metal took before his Durban July win and ran a very good race behind Legislate in the Gold Challenge last time out, with Futura just ahead of him at level weights. We’re now getting 5.5kg from Futura and have Piere Strydom on him. There’s a lot in his favour and, while things need to go right, he could be the dark horse.
“Ignore Tamaanee’s run in the Woolavington 2000 because she lifted a shoe and it had bent into her foot when she returned. She won the Gerald Rosenberg Stakes at Turffontein in good time before that.
“Gold Onyx is a Greyville specialist. He ran well in the Queen’s Plate (third) and the Met (second) at Kenilworth earlier this year, so he is far from a spent force. His last run was no good – he travelled too well and too handily with a big weight, tactics that didn’t suit him. He could come well.”
Tarry concluded: “In terms of prep I’m happy. But there are some champions in the race – the big guns being Futura and Majmu as well as Wylie Hall, who has done nothing wrong. Plus I have to respect a few of the other threeyear-olds at the weights."