Mrs Geriatrix Bounces Back As Tarry Has Another Fine KZN Breeders Day

Mrs Geriatrix saunters to her second victory of the season under a confident Richard Fourie (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Sean Tarry often does well at the KZN Breeders day meeting, which is limited to horses bred in KZN and was held at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday with eight races on the poly and the KZN Breeders Mile on the turf.

Last year’s Equus Champion two-year-old filly Mrs Geriatrix won the KZN Breeder’s Mile comfortably and Gold Circle recorded the connections’ comments below, whilst Seantarryracing.co.za filed a report on the whole meeting:

RICHARD FOURIE : “Obviously there was not much depth in the race. She’s been in group 1’s, contesting against fillies, the likes of Gimme A Nother. This was a drop in class. She had a fun gallop and did everything right. She travelled well … I got low just before the straight and moved her out … she was ready and waiting. Hard to assess if that was the old Mrs Geriatrix, but it was a great win, nevertheless. The fact that she did the mile so comfortably, I thought that it was a good and positive run from her. This filly has been amazing … her juvenile form was phenomenal, before being hampered in the handicap and losing her way a little bit. But she’s back on track”.

*She has never run in a handicap event but did carry Gr 1 penalties on occasion (Turf Talk Ed).

SEAN TARRY : “This is an unforgiving game … you make one wrong move and people forget a horse like this very quickly. However, Cape Town didn’t work out for us and on the back of it, the Joburg season didn’t quite work out, so we decided to focus on the Garden Province or this race. With Richard taking another ride in the Garden Province and with her having the draw here, I thought his maybe an easier race for her … she deserves it. I’m glad I made that decision. Her 3-year-old season is now over and she’ll have a good break. I have no doubt in my mind, that she will train on. She’s an elegant filly … classy … very well balanced and the only thing she doesn’t have is size. I don’t know too many horses that tick all the boxes. She is a smaller girl, but what a machine. I’m very proud of her. A big shout-out to Andy my farrier, who has been working on her feet … it might have just helped this run. It’s a team effort”.

OWNERS : “She does her best and gives it all. Thank goodness she’s back. We are very happy about ‘Mrs G’ … she did break our hearts, but we’re happy to see her back”.

PETER & JENNY BLYTH : “Very proud. You don’t know when things happen … that’s racing. There’re highs and lows as we all know. We’ve had such fun with this filly. Let’s hope the mare can produce another one. She’s currently in foal to Danon Platina and will go down to Rafeef this year”.

Winner : 4. MRS GERIATRIX / Sean Tarry / Richard Fourie

2nd : 5. Prince Of Taranto / Tony Rivalland / S’Manga Khumalo

3rd : 3. Noble City / Alyson Wright / Athandiwe Mgudlwa

4th : 9. Lady Fallon / Lucky Houdalakis / Raymond Danielson

Winning Owners : Magical Lady Syndicate (Nom: Natalie Turner)

Winning Breeder : Clifton Stud

Breeding : Vercingetorix x Velvet Glove by Kahal (GB)

Race Record : X Starts : X Wins : X Places : Earnings R1 784 750

Seantarryracing.co.za filed the following report:

Just days before the running of the 2024 G1 Durban July, the Tarry stable struck three times at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.

Not only did the stable’s top-class filly, Mrs Geriatrix, run out a convincing winner of Saturday’s R600 000 KwaZulu-Natal Breeders Mile, but Sean also sent out Dantonfromsandton and Willow’s Wish to win their respective races.

All three of the stable’s winners on Saturday were steered home by Richard Fourie.

Last season’s Equus Champion 2YO Filly, Mrs Geriatrix, bounced back to winning ways when storming home to land Saturday’s feature race in fine fashion.

Given a perfect ride by Richard, the Clifton Stud-bred three-year-old powered into the lead 200m from home, and it was left to eventual runner-up Prince Of Taranto (like the winner, bred by Clifton Stud) to chase the winner home.

Mrs Geriatrix, who races for the Magical Lady Syndicate, landed the 2024 KwaZulu-Natal Breeders Mile by just under a length.

The chestnut daughter of Vercingetorix has been a real star for the Tarry stable, with Mrs Geriatrix having won all of the G1 Allan Robertson Championship, G2 World Sports Betting SA Fillies Nursery, G2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper and Listed Ruffian Stakes last season.

Mrs Geriatrix will now have a good break before coming back next season. Sean, who gave credit to Andy the farrier after Saturday’s win, described Mrs Geriatrix as an elegant filly with class, who is a machine.

Sean’s G1 SA Nursery/G2 Dingaans winner Willow Magic provided the yard with its other two winners on Saturday, with Willow Magic’s son Dantonfromsandton winning the first race and another Willow Magic son, Willow’s Wish, victorious in Saturday’s fifth race.

Dantonfromsandton, a colt who bears a strong resemblance to his sire, made it three wins from seven starts when he won Saturday’s Camargue Stud Kwazulu-Natal Breeders Juvenile Plate.

Storming home down the inside of the track, the Bush Hill Stud-bred two-year-old, whose sire and dam were both trained by Sean, went on to salute by just under three parts of a length.

The gutsy Dantonfromsandton races for D R & K A Lahoud, G Anthony, Y S Ebersey, J A J & D J Farah, A Lahoud, Jarryd Lahoud, Larry Pogir, R Polakow, Cliff Simaan, Craig Zoghby, Benoni Boys Syndicate.

His paternal half-brother Willow’s Wish picked up his sixth win when he won the Macrath Stud KwaZulu-Natal Breeders 1900 on Saturday. Kicking clear someway out, the gelding, who was hanging again, powered home to score by more than three and a half lengths.

Bred by Summerhill Stud (Pty) Ltd, Willow’s Wish, who is out of G2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas winner Fisani, is owned by Mr and Mrs Towell and Mrs Gossayn.