Yeni Makes Merry For The Snaiths

Be Merry wins the Listed Sweet Schestnut Stakes. (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Muzi Yeni rode a treble for Justin Snaith at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Monday and this included winning the Listed Sweet Chestnut Stakes on Be Merry, a three-year-old Drakenstein Stud-homebred Lancaster Bomber filly.

Be Merry is Lancaster Bomber’s eighth stakes winner.

Be Merry broke well from pole position and the race set up well for her when Princess Izzy slotted in front of her.

Callmegetrix ran ahead of the latter on her outside and they set just a steady pace.

Yeni sat patiently behind the front two until the 450m mark and he then drove Be Merry between the two and extracted a resolute finish from her down the inside rail.

Scarlet Macaw quickened well on the outside but was not able to pin back Be Merry and Callmegetrix.

Be Merry beat the gallant Callnegetrix by a length with Scarlet Macaw a head further back in third place.

Be Merry won three on the trot over sprints in Septmber and October last year, but proved suited to the step up in trip.

She converted odds of 6/1 having shortened from 8/1.

Muzi Yeni said after the race, “The pace was not hot, so it played into her hands. I was expecting an explosive turn of foot, but she took time to unwind, which suggests that she will be comfortable 1400m to a mile … she did her best work very late. It was encouraging. Her pedigree has come through in this race … the blood is there. Well done to Drakenstein. Draw 1 is a game changer especially if a horse has been sprinting. At one draw, you can just look across and see who is coming around. The pace was sedate, so I was pleased because if it turned into a sprint, I knew that I would be the first one there! She did hit a flat spot, which shows that she will get a mile at Greyville, so a great feat.”

Justin Snaith said, “Being by Lancaster Bomber she should be able to get a little further. Lancaster Bomber has been incredible … Eight On Eighteen and the list is just endless. He’s going to leave his mark on SA racing and when fillies like this go to stud, it’s going to be very interesting. If you told me that I was going to win this race with Be Merry 6 months ago and also if you told me that Andrew Fortune would be riding for me … these are all things that would not happen, but here we are! A brilliant ride … 1 draw … 1400m makes a big difference … 53 kilos … if ever she was going to be given a nice chance in a race over a bit of ground, this was it. I was impressed, as there’re some smart fillies here. It was a hellava win … we’ll take it and decide where to go. We were meant to run in the Champagne Stakes, but Justin Vermaak changed it to an open race. We didn’t have anything to run her in. PE is on the poly half the time so we thought we would take our chances here and are very fortunate.”

Drakenstein’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville said, “Congratulations to Gaynor. It was a super decision by Justin to run her in this race. She’s won a couple of races over a 1000m, so to get her to go this distance first time out after a little break, was excellent. Muzi rode her beautifully. The weights helped us. It was a lovely win. She had to fight off the filly on her outside and then another one. She seemed to do it well and at the end she might have been pulling away or finding her feet.”