A gritty performance form the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained El Padrino has seen him salute in the $400,000 Inglis Nursery at Royal Randwick.

It wasn’t the easiest of watches for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace camp, but their two-year-old El Padrino ($10) has taken out the Restricted Listed Inglis Nursery at Royal Randwick.

After jumping well from gate ten, the Street Boss colt had to sit three and four wide the entire 1000m journey, before letting down strongly in the straight to defeat Calgary Stampede ($9) by a short neck with Athletica ($6) a further three quarters of a length away in third.

Connections of stablemate Boldinho would consider themselves a touch unlucky, with the Brazen Beau two-year-old failing to obtain clear running all the way down the home straight to finish under a stranglehold back in fourth.

Stable representative Jack Bruce was full of praise for the stable staff, who have training operations in both Sydney and Melbourne.

“It’s nice to win these races for the stable,” Bruce said.

“It’s a big team effort right from the beginning with these horses and everyone plays their part in both states to get them ready.

“We’re proud of the team and really proud of the work they put in to make it happen.”

Like most spring two-year-old races the focus then shifts to the feature races in the autumn, and Bruce doesn’t see why both his youngsters can’t take the next step.

“This particular horse El Padrino has come a long way,” Bruce said.

“He’s still a very laid-back colt, so he’s got the right attitude to see him improve into the autumn. And Boldinho is exactly the same.”

Jockey Jason Collett was equally effusive in his assessment of El Padrino,

“He’s got a really good attitude, he seems to just take it in his stride,” Josh Parr said.

“He bounced well today, he did get a bit of a squeeze. But I suppose it’s that race experience, he had a bit more experience on them.”