Menari monsters rivals in Run To The Rose

Jockey Josh Parr returns to scale on Menari after winning the Run To The Rose.

The biggest horse in the Run To The Rose field has also turned out to be the best with Menari dominating his rivals to give his jockey Josh Parr a Group Two treble at Rosehill.

The $2.30 favourite, Menari crossed from the outside barrier with Parr positioning him behind the leader Perast ($101) with Pariah ($3.80) just behind.

When the field straightened up, Menari strode clear with Pariah chasing but falling 1-1/2 lengths short with Perast holding on for third, the same margin behind the runner-up.

Menari shortened dramatically from $6 equal favourite with Pariah for the Group One Golden Rose in two weeks to $2.60.

Trainer Gerald Ryan was moved to draw comparisons with Menari’s champion sire Snitzel who he also prepared during his racetrack career.

“I thought I was lucky enough to have a horse like Snitzel who I thought was a very good horse,” Ryan said.

“Probably the best horse I had since Snitzel was Snitzerland, then along came Rubick.

“We never saw the best of Rubick, but this horse in the autumn, what he showed us before he raced I thought ‘this is a fair dinkum, genuine horse.

“He is 16.3 hands and weighs 570 kilos and I think his fitness will improve even further.”

Menari didn’t appreciate the wet autumn tracks but his two starts this time in have produced two wins.

Parr earlier won the Theo Marks Stakes on the Ryan-trained Deploy and the Stan Fox Stakes on the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Gold Standard who is also headed to the Golden Rose.

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But there is no doubt which colt Parr will be riding.

“Look at the size of the horse. It is just phenomenal to ride an animal like this,” he said.

“His turn of foot is second to none.

“I banged him up outside of the leader simply because of the draw.

“I had to make a decision. I couldn’t come out half-hearted and linger around at the risk of being posted wide so I decided to go forward.

“What a phenomenal day. Group One wins are the pinnacle but to ride three Group Twos in one day is amazing.

“I drove here with my Dad (former jockey Steve) and I said, ‘I can ride three winners today and I’ve only got three rides’.

“My Dad is a very quietly spoken man. He replied with, ‘let’s hope so’.”

Rival jockey Blake Shinn took positives from Pariah’s run, citing the 1kg he had to give the winner as a possible hindrance.

“We had a lovely run behind the winner,” Shinn said.

“Menari had one kilogram difference. In saying that full credit to the winner. He was too good on the day, but level weights at 1400 metres in the Golden Rose will make it an exciting race.”