3 minute read

Boom colt Menari returned in a big way at Rosehill on Saturday stamping himself the best of his generation to date.

An impressive winner on debut, Menari went on to finish a luckless (painful) second behind Pariah, before wet-tracks marred the remainder of his juvenile campaign.

A game performance saw Menari finish fourth on protest (third past the post) in the Group 1 Golden Slipper, earning himself 60.5kg for his return on Saturday.

Ridden by Josh Parr, Menari settled just worse than midfield with the Waterhouse and Bott trained Siege Of Quebec setting a decent tempo out in front.

Pulled the widest runner on straightening, Menari loomed ominously before quickly taking over passing the 200m.

Displaying a sharp turn of foot, Menari put the race to bed in a few strides, drawing clear to score by a length and a quarter.

Menari resumes in brilliant fashion, letting down with a big run to win the listed Rosebud at #Rosehill! pic.twitter.com/XzejTVwGue

— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) 12 August 2017

Rated 110p by Timeform following his juvenile campaign, Menari took a good step forward on Saturday returning a new career peak figure of 120p.

Menari is comfortably the highest rated winner of the Rosebud and is now the highest rated galloper of his generation.

Last season several of the key two-year-old races were fought on rain soaked surfaces leaving the 2YO pecking order far from clear cut.

Group 1 winners Invader and She Will Reign held top spot rated 119, but their respective peaks came on ground that hopefully won't be commonplace this Spring.

Last season's 2YO table looked similar to 2013/14 when Mossfun, Earthquake and Rubick shared top billing at 119 - the only time this century the top juvenile wasn't rated higher than 120.

However judging by Menari's performance on Saturday, we can expect a completely different ballgame this Spring.

Clearly unsuited on the heavy tracks during the Autumn, Menari isn't likely to be on his own, as we can expect more gallopers to show good improvement getting back on top of the ground.

Up early (given the new Spring programming), Menari's performance marginally bettered that of Star Turn who won the Group 3 San Domenico [1100m] on the same weekend last year.

Star Turn went on to be narrowly beaten in the Group 2 Run To The Rose [1200m] before easily disposing of his elder rivals in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes [1200m].

Trainer Gerald Ryan is now left with the interesting decision as to where he heads with Menari.

Following his victory, Ryan indicated he would like to contest the Everest (October 14th), held three weeks after the Golden Rose (September 23rd).

Can he run in both? Recent history suggests it shouldn't be a concern as both Zoustar and Exosphere won the Golden Rose, before three weeks later winning the Roman Consul — the exact same programming.

Either way Menari creates plenty of interest at his next outing as he has already set a decent marker (with room to move), while we eagerly await the return of Invader, Pariah and Kementari.