Orphan foal impresses at Narrogin

El Ay Eagle (Fly Like An Eagle) had a rough start to life losing his mum during the foaling down process but on Saturday night (Jul. 9) the now three-year-old has defied all odds made it to the races in winning fashion, claiming the opener at harness racing’s Narrogin track impressively for Ryan Bell and Kyle Symington.

The $1.65 favourite started from barrier seven in The Trots WA – Owners Appreciation 3YO Westbred Maiden over the 1823m distance, and after settling three back on the pegs for the majority, Symington made his move with around 400m to go, flashing home to win by a neck in 2:01:7 for his connections.

“We are super proud of him and just seeing him line up in a race was rewarding, but to come out a winner is extra satisfying. He’s going to be a handy little horse,” Bell said.

“Plenty of people to thank for getting him to the races, especially the team at Perth Equine Hospital, he’s practically lived there with all his little hiccups he’s had along the way.”

It was discovered that during his two-year-old prep ‘Mayo’ as he is known around the stable, had a bone chip in his knee, requiring surgery to remove it as well as extended box rest before heading back for further surgery to clean out the knee.

“He didn’t start life well with his mum dying giving birth to him, he’s had a very chequered history,” owner/breeder Howard King said.

“He was an orphan, his mum who was Liberty Ann, it was her last foal, he ended up being surrogated by Sister Madonna who was one of Allwood Stud’s mares. They do this weird procedure when they get her urine and throw it on the foal so she thinks that’s her foal, its very clever and she did, she looked after him like it was hers.

“It was lucky that that he was at a big stud, that there was a mare there that had unfortunately lost her foal, otherwise I don’t know what you do, hand feed them, but then they tend to struggle through life after that.”

An unruly youngster, El Ay Eagle was sent away to Teneale Kearney at Hollywood Quarter Horses for handling before heading to the stables of Ryan Bell for his break in prep, but even after his initial education his wild side was still apparent, proving to be a hard horse to catch. Kearney had to make her way to his spelling paddock to lasso him in order to catch him, but Tiffany Sharpe has since confirmed that he’s a very nice horse to deal with now.

Whilst getting him to the races has been a costly operation for his connections, they’re confident that the three-year-old has plenty of talent and they’re hopeful he can continue to go on with it and have plenty of fun along the way.