Outstanding three-year-old Menari has produced a dominant effort to beat an impressive field with ease in this afternoon’s Group 2 The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens.

Menari (pictured winning The Rosebud) was dominant in this afternoon's Group 2 The Run To The Rose. Photo: Steve Hart

Menari (pictured winning The Rosebud) was dominant in this afternoon’s Group 2 The Run To The Rose. Photo: Steve Hart

Menari was charged with overcoming the outside gate for his second-up run, but flew the barriers and found no issue crossing the field and taking an ideal position in transit on the rails and on the heels of early leader Perast.

Enjoying an ideal run in transit, the Snitzel colt immediately responded when asked for an extra effort by jockey Josh Parr; striding clear of his rivals to claim the impressive win and stamp himself as a clear favourite for the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) in a fortnight.

Parr had three rides for three Group 2 winners at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon, but was quick to lay all the praise on his talented mount after The Run To The Rose.

“Look at the size of the horse and it’s just phenomenal to ride an animal like this,” Parr said.

“I banged him outside the leader today simply because of the draw. I had to make a decision today, I couldn’t come out half-hearted and linger around and the rest would have been posted wide.

“I decided to go forward and his turn of foot is second to none.

“I think his ability will take him a hell of a long way to the 1400m. There’s a couple of things in his game that suggest to me that he’s a 1200m horse, but don’t write him off in the Golden Rose.”

Gerald Ryan was thrilled with Menari’s win in The Run To The Rose and confirmed that the $1 million Golden Rose is his next point of call.

“This horse in the autumn and what he showed us before he raced, I thought that this is a fair dinkum and genuine horse,” Ryan said.

“He’ll go to 1400m. Group 1, $1 million race for three-year-olds on your home track – why wouldn’t you?

“He’ll improve in fitness. I wouldn’t say length-wise, but I know the horse has improvement in him because he’s 4 weeks between runs and hasn’t had a trial.

“We’ve just been ticking him over, he’s been eating his feed and he’s a good horse.

“The way that he came out here and worked on Friday morning, I reckon there’s only been two other horses that have been as quick as him and that’s Chautauqua and All Too Hard when they were flying.

“He just burnt the track last week.”

Menari has firmed into Golden Rose odds of $2.50 at Ladbrokes.com.au following this afternoon’s dominant win.

About The Author

Jared Timms

Jared graduated with a journalism degree in 2011. He is a keen sports fan and has enjoyed many accolades for his lively writing style and comprehensive coverage of major sporting events and horse racing. Today, you can find Jared cheering on his beloved Manchester City with a beer in hand.