22.01.12
McArdle 2yo wins Listed Feature
The Steven Duffy trained Almost El Eagle was far too good for his rivals in the $25,000 Listed The Lombo 2YO Colts and Geldings Final (1,690m) at Shepparton on Saturday evening, winning by almost 20m.
Having won a heat of the series the previous weekend, Almost El Eagle was installed a short-priced favourite and never gave punters any cause for concern in the running, spearing to the lead from the barrier and kicking clear in the straight to score by 19.8m from the second favourite Iron Ore Lombo in a smart mile rate of 1:58.8.
Almost El Eagle, the winner of two races, has never finished further back than second and has banked just over $20,000 in earnings to date.
The well bred youngster is the best performed progeny to date of his American bred No Nukes dam, Nuclearaccelerator, a half sister to Aussie super sire Fake Left.
Earlier in the week, the NZ bred Marquess De Posh kept her unbeaten record for the season intact when scoring her third consecutive win as a 3yo at Menangle in a slick 1:56.8 mile rate.
The winner of the Pink Bonnet as a 2yo last season Marquess De Posh is rated by many as one of the best current season 3yo fillies in Australia and has won five of her six starts to date.
It was a good weekend for McArdle in NZ too with the stallion siring three winners at Motukarara on Sunday, including the unbeaten 3yo filly Castellina Lover along with Waipawa Junior, the winner of five, and lightly raced 2-win mare New Revenue. The former Kindergarten Stakes winner Le Sol was also victorious over the weekend, scoring at Addington on Friday evening.
