Matinee wins in fine style on debut (JC Photos)
Barry Irwin of Team Valor International is well know for the eye he has for a thoroughbred and a purchase he made at a yearling Sale in South Africa back in 2018 has now come full circle and provided himself and Anant Singh with some exciting times to look forward to.
He and Anant Singh bred with the aforementioned yearling purchase, a Gimmethegreenlight mare called Roll In The Hay, and they now race her first foal, a Sean Tarry-trained filly called Matinee, who won in impressive style on debut at the Vaal today (Thursday).
In fact this Rafeef filly won so well she could make up for the unfulfilled promise of her mother, who won a Listed race for Irwin and Singh, despite having suffered from a serious wind issue.
Matinee was not fancied in the betting market today, drifting out from 10/1 to 25/2.
Her chances were not enhanced when she dwelt at the start, losing a couple of lengths.
Howeever, promising apprentice Anaas Mosaheb used that to his advantage by sitting in behind horses and that gave him a nice tow into the race.
In the final stages she showed a tremendous turn of foot to win going away by 1,25 lengths down the unfavourable inside part of the track, beating the Australian-bred Beautiful Rosie.
Barry Irwin purchased Roll In THe Hay (Gimmethegreenlight out of Country Girl (Mon Sang)) for R400,000 at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale and he said at the time, “This is so much fun here, I feel like Sheikh Mohamed at this sale as I get to buy the horses that I really like. It’s easy to buy a nice horse here, it reminds me of the old days.”
Later, after Roll In The Hay had won the Listed Lady’s Pendant over 1200m at Fairview trained by Candice Bass, Barry said, “This filly represents quite a remarkable dilemma because of her wind. She has a completely paralyzed left aretynoid and she gets only a fraction of the air most of her rivals enjoy. Most horses that are wind-impaired like her are all out to last five-eighths of a mile. (We had one once that was unbeatable at 4 ½ furlongs in West Virginia, but could not see out the 5.)”
“We decided not to do surgery and see if we could do well enough with her over 5 furlongs and we have been moderately successful. But today she went 6 furlongs! Stunning. I know the course is downhill, blah blah, blah, but she ran for 67 seconds under a large weight package and won with something in reserve. It really is on the verge of being unprecedented.”
“I am seriously thinking of doing the tie-back surgery when she has a break, perhaps over their winter, because she has shown enough to make me believe that she could cut it in Grade 1 company. Remember how close she came in that Grade 2 Southern Cross Stakes? This filly is well built, has a real turn of foot and she retains all of her desire to compete at a high level of racing. I will talk to Candice about this next week.”
Roll In THe Hay was subsequently tried in four big sprint events, including in the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint, but she never managed a place in any of them.
However, her daughter Matinee now has the opportunity to fulfil unrealised potential.
Such is the beauty of breeding … it is a long game but can be very rewarding.
Anaas Mosaheb was full of praise for Matinee after her win.
Sean Tarry said he had expected the filly to run on into the money, but the win had come as a pleasant surprise.
He revealed that three months ago the filly had been on the verge of being released, as she was not moving well or doing well, so it was fortunate that they had perervered for a bit longer.
She looks to be one to follow.
