Family’s fortunes take turn for the better

Clarify eased a recent racing disappointment for breeders Monovale Farm with an emphatic winning performance at Ellerslie.

The Savabeel gelding sneaked into Sunday’s Dunstan Feeds Stayers’ Championship Final off the ballot and he made the most of his opportunity with a runaway victory.

Clarify is raced by the Smithies family, who have had to retire their Zabeel entire Verdi, a half-brother to the multiple Group One winners Sir Slick and Puccini, with a torn ligament following his win at Te Rapa last month.

The four-year-old Clarify, who had also won at the meeting, is trained for them at Matamata by Peter McKay, whose son Shaun was in the saddle.

“I said to Shaun to roll forward from the 600 and put the pressure on them,” McKay said.

Clarify did exactly that and after hitting the front on straightening he dashed clear and romped home by six lengths from Banrock, who also needed a scratching to gain a start, and Symphonic.

“He’s in both the Wellington and Auckland Cups,” McKay said. “Wellington was the one that we were looking at, but this win gets him into the Auckland Cup so we’ll have a think about that.”

Clarify has now won three of his 15 starts and McKay said the horse’s record could have been even better.

“We probably pushed him too much as a three-year-old. We were trying to win a race with him early on and then sell him.”