Legal Eagle remains 4-1 favourite to go one better than his second of the last two years in the Sun Met celebrated with G.H. Mumm at Kenilworth on Saturday but three-time champion trainer Sean Tarry has been more concerned with getting the gelding’s preparation exactly right.
He was initially concerned that the dual Horse of the Year might have had an unduly hard race when winning the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate after having to pull out all the stops to collar Captain America.
“As hard a race as he seemed to have from us watching it, we never saw any indication of that from when he pulled up and there were no telltale signs. He was very fresh – indeed he was full of himself – and he also ate very well afterwards so we have basically handled him as we would normally.”
Tarry has no worries about No 15 draw, particularly with Anton Marcus in the irons and commented: “A good jockey and a good horse – they will find their way.”
All the publicity surrounding Legal Eagle is in marked contrast to his first Met runner, Alastor in 2005. Tarry talked about the build-up to that race in the July 2008 edition of now-defunct South African Bloodstock News magazine.
“Garth Puller, who rode Alastor, helped me with most of the work and I was excited because the horse was going really well,” Tarry related. “A few days before the race I walked into Tattersalls to see what my chances were. When I found out he was a 50-1 shot I was devastated. I suddenly thought that maybe I was missing something. Either that or it was too big a jump in class.”
Tarry, who was at one time a bookie’s clerk, had recovered his composure and his self-belief by the time it came to the sweepstake cocktail party. He bid for his runner and got him for R2,500. He collected 40 times that sum, not quite as good as the odds offered by the bookmakers, but a handsome bonus to add to his percentage and all the kudos that went with it.
Current betting: 4-1 Legal Eagle; 5-1 Marinaresco; 15-2 Oh Susanna, Last Winter; 9-1 Copper Force, Cascapedia, African Night Sky; 14-1 Gold Standard; 16-1 and upwards others.
By Michael Clower
