General Menari salutes at Te Rapa
Promising sprinter General Menari continued his impressive run of form when winning the Transport & General 3YO (1100m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.
A winner on debut over the same distance at Taupo last October, General Menari was freshened before resuming at Tauranga in January where he ran fifth, his only unplaced run of his career to date, before going on to place in his next three starts, and returned to winning form over 1200m at Te Rapa earlier this month.
His form line wasn’t lost on punters, who backed the Wexford Stables gelding into an even money favourite on Saturday, and the son of Menari duly delivered.
Jumping from the extreme outside in the seven-horse field, General Menari was taken straight back to settle at the rear of the field by jockey Masa Hashizume.
Turning for home, he still had all before him, but Hashizume bided his time before slingshotting him off the back of Presence Of Mind with 300m to go and General Menari showed his customary good turn of foot to run over the top of his rivals to score by half a length over the Stephen Marsh-trained Lubeck.
Andrew Scott, who trains the gelding in partnership with Lance O’Sullivan, has been pleased with General Menari’s continued good run of form, citing patience as the key factor.
“He just took a little bit of making,” Scott said. “He had a bit of a setback after his first ever start, he came back a bit fresh and lost his way for a start or two and then he hit a couple of wet tracks. He is just learning how to race.
“They went a good gallop today and set it up for those horses that were sweeping. To get down and pick them up was a really good effort.
“He is only going to keep on getting better and he will end up a good Kiwi sprinter. He is a horse we have taken our time with over summer and it was a really good win today.”
Scott said General Menari will likely have one more start while the unseasonably good weather continues.
“Going so quiet through summer, the plan was always to crack on as far as we can,” Scott said. “Hopefully this weather hangs around for another fortnight or two and we can get another run into him.
“It would be nice to get him through to open grade so when he is four he is ready for those sprints.”
General Menari’s victory completed an early double for the stable, with stablemate Lumbridge Castle winning on debut a race prior in the PFS Engineering LTD 1200.
