Flashy colt Menari has enhanced his claims for both the Golden Rose and a spot in The Everest with his impressive Run To The Rose victory.
If he wasn’t impressive enough on resuming in The Rosebud, Menari built upon the display second up contesting the Run To The Rose (1200m).
Menari was put in a perfect spot by jockey Josh Parr from a wide barrier, settled second behind leader Perast.
As Perast came back to the field approaching the furlong, Menari powered by the early pacesetter for a 1.5 length win over Pariah with Perast hanging on bravely for third.
Menari the ferrari!
The @GRyanRacing colt proves too good for Pariah in the G2 Run To The Rose at #Rosehill. pic.twitter.com/uDzK0OqgIw— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 9, 2017
Menari’s dominant Run To The Rose display returned a Timeform rating of 122p.
Such a figure comes in nicely above the prior five year winning average of the event.
It sees Menari sit alongside Astern who also ran to 122+ when claiming the 2016 renewal.
Only Smart Missile in 2011 and Pierro in 2012 produced superior ratings to Menari when winning the Run To The Rose, with each of their respective efforts assessed at 123.
The Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes is next for Menari with the son of Snitzel an undeniable $2.50 favourite for the event where the colt will likely clash against a host of the same rivals he despatched in clinical fashion when contesting the Run To The Rose.
History also bodes extremely well for him. The last three Run To The Rose winners Hallowed Crown, Exosphere and Astern all went on to claim the Run To The Rose - Golden Rose double.
The Everest is three weeks after the Golden Rose and off what Menari has produced so far this prep, the Gerald Ryan-trained colt is deserving of a spot in the lucrative sprint.
Of The Everest hopefuls to have raced so far this spring, only Vega Magic has run a superior figure to Menari with his Memsie Stakes win returning a Timeform rating of 126.
The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained duo of Redzel (121, Concorde) and Russian Revolution (120, McEwen Stakes) are also in the mix heading towards the $10million sprint on October 14.
A further three Group events were conducted at Rosehill on Saturday and Gerald Ryan came away from the meeting with a Group double courtesy of Deploy winning the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m).
Deploy led throughout for a convincing four length success over the resuming Egg Tart and in the process broke the 1300m Rosehill track record previously held by Alquoz for 27 years.
He is flying!!
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 9, 2017
Deploy breaks another track record, bolting in to win the G2 Theo Marks Stakes at #Rosehill. pic.twitter.com/azsHMwxjd2
While the Theo Marks often acts as a launch pad for horses heading toward mile/middle distance events in the spring, Deploy will be dropped back to the 1200m of The Premiere Stakes at Randwick in three weeks time.
It will act as a final Everest audition for Deploy who ran to a Timeform rating of 114 on Saturday, a figure which suggests he is marginally below the top line sprinters this spring.
Gold Standard continued to go from strength to strength through his maiden prep by taking out the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m).
.@JoshuaParr8 pilots Gold Standard to victory in the G2 Stan Fox Stakes at #Rosehill for @GaiWaterhouse1. pic.twitter.com/vSXATf6FXE
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 9, 2017
The Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott-trained colt produced a Timeform rating of 114 to claim the Stan Fox Stakes, ten pounds clear of a prior master figure returned when second in the Up and Coming Stakes behind Dracarys.
114 is low for a Stan Fox Stakes however it will likely become the norm as a byproduct of the race being moved forward two weeks.
The Stan Fox used to be positioned perfectly for Golden Rose horses to race in it on the way to the Caulfield Guineas. In recent years we’ve seen the last three Caulfield Guineas winners in Shooting To Win (119+), Press Statement (119+) and Impending (122) all come out of the Stan Fox Stakes with figures well superior to what Gold Standard required last Saturday.
So the purpose of the race has changed commencing this season. Instead of a Caulfield Guineas lead up, it’s now a lead up to the Golden Rose and even the Gloaming Stakes on the same day over 1800m.
Ravi hit the ground running first up to claim the Group 3 Sheraco Stakes (1200m).
The Redoute’s Choice mare ran second in the race last year behind Heavens Above and on Saturday went one better.
Having developed a reputation as a get back mare who required a lot of luck in running, Peter and Paul Snowden have worked on adjusting Ravi’s racing style.
Getting her to settle more prominent has immediately worked and she’s run to a new career peak of 110.
Only three mares have run higher than 110 in winning the Sheraco in the past decade, Mimi Lebrock returned a figure of 113 when she won in 2008 while More Joyous ran to 113 and 116 when winning in both 2010 and 2012.
Catkins rounds out the trio with her 2015 success assessed at 116.
