Cape racing humdinger treat for punters
Racing fans were treated to an unexpected match race at Kenilworth last Saturday, when Legal Eagle and Marinaresco showed themselves to be vastly superior to some hot opposition in the 1600m Green Point Stakes.
Legal Eagle burst out the pack in the official prep for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate next month, giving Marinaresco a few lengths’ start. However, his rival closed the gap rapidly as the finishing post loomed and only Legal Eagle’s fierce will to win got him to the post 0.40 lengths ahead of Candice Bass-Robinson’s star, with jockey Anton Marcus saying afterwards: “He was running on empty but stuck his head out.”
The two were more than four lengths ahead of Captain America, who was a clear third, and if last weekend’s display is anything to go by, the Queen’s Plate and Sun Met a few weeks later are going to be humdingers!
Legal Eagle’s supporters will be hoping the ruling Horse Of The Year can score the Queen’s Plate double and win the Met after finishing first and second respectively in those races this year.
He has been in the Western Cape about two weeks and his trainer Sean Tarry said: “He’s doing well; he’s in good condition. We knew he’d get tired towards the end of the race. I assessed it just as it happened because we only played with him after his sprint-up last month (when third to speedballs Trip To Heaven and Splendid Garden).
“I was sure we’d get away with it until I heard all the talk about how well Marinaresco was. And he certainly gave me a fright!”
Marinaresco’s trainer Candice Bass-Robinson said she had “kind of expected” her charge to fight out the finish.
“You’ll see him at his best over 2000m but he’s versatile enough to do a ‘mile’,” she said. “They went quite hard and he was comfortable where he found himself. However, he had too much ground to make up on Legal Eagle in the straight –two lengths closer and it might have been a different story. It was a great run and it’ll bring him on.”
She’s looking forward to pitting her four-year-old against his year-older rival in the Cape’s two biggest races but says she is hoping he draws well because in the past “he’s always had to do things the hard way in his Grade 1 races”.
He was drawn No 12 of 14 when winning the Grade 1 Champions Cup; No 17 of 18 when second in the Vodacom Durban July and No 14 of 15 in last year’s Cape Derby, in which he finished third.
Tarry also won the Turffontein feature last weekend, with Matador Man beating stablemate Tilbury Fort in the 1400m Secretariat Stakes.
“It was encouraging to get first and second,” said Tarry about a race that is often a pointer towards the quality of the threeyear-olds. “But if you consider the fancied horses didn’t even place, you’ve got to wonder. I went in believing Matador Man could win - there was every indication he could be above average - but Tilbury Fort surprised me.”
Tarry has high hopes Carry On Alice can win the CTS Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m this Saturday for the second year running. She is making her return from a six-month rest and “will probably need it, but her class could carry her through”.
And next weekend, he believes two-time winner Africa Rising will be very competitive in the R1million Grand Parade Cape Guineas.
“I think highly of my horse and don’t believe there can be many better than him. He’s got a good draw, has had a good prep and I make him a runner - but there are still a couple of weeks to get through.”