Huntsville colt Tardelli made a strong bid to be Australian harness racing’s top two-year-old for the season adding another Group 1 feature to his record tonight (Jun. 25).
Tardelli won the $103,990 Redcliffe Yearling Sales Series Final pushing his total earnings for the year to $148,684.
This makes him the second top-earning pacer his age in the country behind Captaintreacherous filly Jewel Melody.
However, despite accumulating this impressive record, trainer-driver Rickie Alchin believes there is more in Tardelli’s tank.
“He’s still not really switched on,” said Alchin.
“He hit the front tonight and switched off but he’ll sharpen up with more racing.”
Tardelli had to overcome some early traffic to come away with tonight’s feature victory.
After starting from inside the second row and settling at the end of the 10-horse field, Alchin gained a three-wide trail with Tardelli in the back straight.
The quarters were swift, clocked in 29.2, 29.9, 29.3 and 29.2 seconds and Tardelli had too much raw ability on his rivals, winning by more than two metres over For Real Life (For A Reason).
The mile rate for the 1780m feature was 1:56.3.
“It didn’t plan out as I thought . . . there was trouble early and the speed was on and he got the job done,” said Alchin.
Tardelli has now won seven of his eight starts, including victory in the Group 1 Bathurst Gold Crown last March.
by Amanda Rando, for Harnesslink
