Street Fight! Merhee (yellow down inside) gets the better of Snowdon in a tight finish
The R300 000 Gr2 Senor Santa Handicap run over 1160m at Turffontein on Saturday produced a thrilling finish with Merhee and Snowdon going head to head over the final 200m.The weight difference eventually told with the De Kock runner gaining a narrow upper hand.
Merhee is a lightly raced sort, and this win could prove a timeous confidence booster for the sprint features that lie ahead.
This may not have been the strongest sprint feature field, but he nevertheless won a good race.
Across The ice was very fast out of the stalls and he led from Polar Moon and the blinkered Snowdon, who was showing good toe down the outside of the track.
In the early stages, Weiho Marwing’s Uncle Tommy and the holiday returnee Pierre Jourdan, were completely outpaced and lagging at the rear.
Across The Ice continued to blitz as they dashed through the halfway mark as Anthony Delpech moved Merhee up to join him down the inside.
At the 300m marker Sean Cormack got Snowdon to run for home, and the son of Western Winter responded by drifting inwards as he looked for company with Merhee, who in turn looked to have just shrugged off the attentions of Across The Ice.
Merhee and Snowdon went at each other for over 200m but it was Merhee, who received 6 kgs from Snowdon, who asserted himself and won by a short head in a time of 67,12 secs.
Across The Ice stayed on for third, and he is a more competitive horse on the sand.
Guantanamera ran fourth, just ahead of Uncle Tommy who made up ground and finished like a bullet for fifth.
Merhee started at a generous 11 to 2.
Winning jockey Anthony Delpech said afterwards that he thought that Snowdon ‘had me all the time’. “ Merhe is a decent horse though and he could prove competitive at Group level in my estimation. He hated his lasts tart on the dirt, and he could go on from here,” he said.
Assistant trainer Matthew De Kock,standing in for his Dad who flew off to Australia this week, said that Merhee had lots of ability and would only benefit from the confidence booster. “ He has gotten over his colic and appears to be getting stronger. We will see how he comes through this race and see where he goes from here,” he said.
The Australian bred Merhee is a son of Darley’s Gone West stallion, Elusive Quality, who stands for a fee of US$50 000. Merhee is out of the Encosta De Lago mare, Dizzy De Lago, who was very lightly raced. This makes him a half brother to the well performed Musir (Redoute’s Choice) .
Merhee was bred by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, in whose yellow and blue silks he races.
