Stupendous for Little

El Stupendo, the 3YO brother to champion El Segundo (pictured), looked every bit a star in the making when he powered home to win at his second race start, today at Geelong.

El Stupendo, unlike the dark bay El Segundo, who retired earlier this year, is a rich chestnut. Both horses are by Pins from the Oak Ridge mare, Palos Verdes.

Trainer Colin Little prepared El Segundo to win 12 races and $3.9 million in stakes. The heavily-built gelding, who cost $NZ140,000 as a yearling at Karaka (NZ), won eight Stakes races, including four at Group 1 level. His most important win came in 2007 when he won the Cox Plate (wfa 2040m).

Little was given El Stupendo to train by his breeders.

Like El Stupendo, El Segundo started humbly, recording his first win as a March 3YO at Cranbourne in 2005. He won his first Group 1 win later that year when he beat Fields Of Omagh in the Yalumba Stakes (wfa 2000m, Caulfield).

El Stupendo has a similar, long low action to his brother. He also possesses a sharp burst of speed when ridden quietly.

It been almost a year since the affable and popular Little lost his wife Jacquie to a long battle with cancer. Few people will begrudge him another good horse and he looks like he has found one.