Grant van Niekerk, fifth on Marinaresco: “He is not travelling in a race like he used to and I need to figure out why his putting in only half the effort he should.”
As expected, the last two runs are not his best and anyone thinking so clearly haven't followed the horse closely. I do hope they get to the bottom of what happened. Of course after a race it's easy to throw around "overrated" very easily. He didn't look his usual self on Saturday. Hopefully the Durban season sees him return to himself.
The first four horses in the Met did NOT run in the last Durban season..very interesting.
I always was of the view that the July should not be for three year old's as there merit rating shoots up too soon and not many come back after the July run.Just to complete that I believe the July should be for older horses[four year olds+]
In all probability the met result was a fair result.
Regarding Elmo's comments and the 3 year olds. Surely considering that the 3 year olds are a month away from turning 4 at July time, they would be far more suited to this race, compared to the likes of the Met (too soon) and the Summer Cup (far too soon). You just have to look at all the 3 year olds that have won the July and how many have won the Met and Summer Cup - hardly any.
With this in mind - Gold Standards run was excellent in the Met (considering he was carried out) and one can only imagine how 3 months will bring him on for the KZN season. My only concern would be he comes across as a bit of a galloper - not exactly Greyville suited!
Mac - you didn't read the end of the sentence. it read..... "at July time". My point being, 3 year olds are far more likely to contest the July, than the Met and Summer Cup, as a result!
