Six years after landing a Group Three prize on Karaka Millions night with Ardrossan, trainer Stephen Marsh and jockey Michael McNab kept it in the family with his exciting daughter Ardalio winning Saturday’s Group 3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Marsh trained Ardrossan throughout a nine-race career that produced four wins, headed by the Group 3 Concorde Handicap (1200m) on the 2019 Karaka Millions undercard. The son of Redoute’s Choice now stands at Waikato Stud, where he has sired 24 winners including six at stakes level.
The newest member of that list is the lightly raced Ardalio, whose owner-breeder Lib Petagna also shared in the ownership of Ardrossan. Saturday’s $250,000 three-year-old sprint was only the third career start for Ardalio, and she announced her arrival on the big stage with a brilliant performance.
Ardalio and McNab raced in midfield before angling to the outside at the home turn and bounding into contention. Front-running favourite Poetic Champion was swallowed up after the 200m mark, with Vegas Queen diving through along the inside while Ardalio pounced out wide.
Ardalio pulled ahead of Vegas Queen in the final 75m to score an emphatic one-length victory, clocking 1:08.86 for the 1200m.
“Ardrossan won a Group Three on this day himself, and for him to sire the winner of this race is a huge result for the stallion and for Lib,” Marsh said. “Ardrossan is getting a lot of winners.
“It was a big step up for Ardalio today, but she’s obviously a very good filly. All of her runs have been terrific. We’ll see where we go next with her, but we could look at something like the Uncle Remus (Listed, 1400m) in a few weeks’ time. We’ll just take her quietly.
“She was ready to explode today and it was a matter of keeping a lid on her leading into this. She’s a very talented filly.”
Marsh was thrilled to pick up a feature-race win on the eve of the National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka.
“This is the night,” the Cambridge trainer said. “This is where we want to be, and this is where we want to be winning races.
“Hopefully now we might be able to buy another horse or two this week and get some shares sold.”
Ardalio’s three-start career has produced two wins and a second, where she was beaten by a head by the talented Sought After at Ellerslie earlier this month. Ardalio has now earned $168,300 in stakes.
McNab has been in the saddle for all three of Ardalio’s starts.
“We landed in a nice spot today, then got to the outside and she was really electric,” he said. “She’s got a bright future.
“I think she just got a bit lost the other day, racing up on the speed. Today, ridden a bit quieter, she was very good late.”
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