Allez Eagle Back on Top
5 October 2015
Karaka graduate Allez Eagle (NZ) (Guillotine) raised the stakes with triumph in a fresh up run in the $70,000 Group 3 Linwood Park Stud Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings on Saturday.
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Allez Eagle (NZ) triumphant in the Group 3 Linwood Park Stud Spring Sprint. |
From Tony Pike’s Cambridge stable, Allez Eagle has won half of his starts, with Saturday’s win his first at stakes level, a successful start to his spring campaign. Two starts ago he recorded a fourth placing in the Group 1 Easter Handicap off the back of a stellar run winning four of his previous five starts.
“It was a very strong win, first up, over 1400m,” commented Pike. “We were a little bit concerned whether he would be fit enough to go 1400m first up but he got the job done and should only continue to improve from here.”
Commencing the race from barrier 9 for jockey Danielle Johnson, Allez Eagle went forward in the early stages to race one off the fence, before edging out to race three-wide as they came to the corner to challenge race-favourite and pacemaker Ryan Mark (NZ) (Thorn Park) in the final stages. Hitting the front in the closing stages, Allez Eagle held on for victory by a nose over Recite (NZ) (Darci Brahma) who swooped in to be runner-up and Ryan Mark finishing in third.
“He is starting to get up in the ratings now so we will possibly look at aiming him for the Windsor Park Plate at Wellington, the weight-for-age mile in three weeks, and then we will just see how he goes in that before we make the decision whether we run him in the Coupland’s Mile at Christchurch,” added Pike.
The Group 1 Windsor Park Plate will run on 24 October at Trentham over 1600m, while the Group 2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile will be held on 11 November at Riccarton Park.
The five-year-old gelding has earned A$151,076 in prizemoney for owner W Eagles Plumbing Supplies Pty Ltd.
Allez Eagle was purchased as a yearling by Tony Pike for $50,000 from New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2012 Karaka Select Sale from Mapperley Stud.
Bred by A J & Est late A M Bishop, the son of Guillotine is out of the Volksraad mare Alleyrun, a placegetter in the Group 3 King’s Plate.
Alleyrun is also the dam of Regency Darling (Guillotine), a full brother to Allez Eagle, who broke his maiden status last night in Hong Kong. Regency Darling is a graduate of NZB’s 2013 Karaka Select Sale who returned to Karaka later in the year to be sold as a two-year-old in the NZB Ready to Run Sale.
Karaka graduates won two of the four feature stakes races at Hastings on Saturday with Amarula (NZ) (Thorn Park) winner of the Group 2 Sacred Falls Hawke’s Bay Guineas.