‘Menari the Ferrari’ belts them in Run To The Rose

Tom Walter - Saturday September 9

Menari's dominant victory in Saturday's Group II Run To The Rose (1200m) earned praise of the highest order from trainer Gerald Ryan and completed a Group II treble for jockey Josh Parr.

Menari races away with the Group II Run To The Rose. Photo: Steve Hart

Ryan, who has prepared a wealth of thoroughbred talent in his years of training, believes Menari could end up in the same company as his sire Snitzel.

"I thought I was lucky enough to have a horse like Snitzel who I thought was a very good horse," Ryan said.

"Probably the best horse I had since Snitzel was Snitzerland, then along came Rubick. Never saw the best of Rubick, but this horse in the autumn, what he showed us before he raced I thought 'this is a fair dinkum, genuine horse'.

"The way he worked last Friday morning, I reckon there's only been two other horses I've clocked sectionals as quick as him and that's been Chautauqua and All Too Hard when they were flying. He burnt the track last Friday."

Standing at 16.3 hands and weighing 570kg race-fit, Menari's raw power was in full throttle when he burst to the front at the 200m mark of the Run To The Rose, leaving Peter and Paul Snowden's colt Pariah in his wake.

Caller Darren Flindell appropriately named Ryan's colt 'Menari the Ferrari' at the post as Pariah crossed the line 1-1/2 lengths behind in second. The Paul Perry-trained Perast ($101) was beaten the same margin back in third.

Parr, who had won on stablemate Deploy and the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Gold Standard earlier in the day, completed a clean sweep of the meeting's three Group II events.

Whilst he said the treble didn't quite compare to winning a Group I, the in-form rider said it was the next best thing.

"Group Is are obviously the pinnacle and extra special but three Group IIs in a day is pretty good too," Parr said.

"I drove here with my Dad and I said, I can ride three winners today and I've only got three rides. My Dad is a very quietly spoken man. He replied with, 'let's hope so', and sure enough I did it.

"I've known for some time now how good this horse is but you've got to keep a lid on things because you know what horse racing is like, anything can happen, but it's an absolute delight to sit on his back that's for sure."

Menari has tightened his grip on favouritism for the Group I Golden Rose (1400m) back at Rosehill in a fortnight, firming from $5 into $2.40 with Sportsbet.

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