A shrewd gamble by SA champion trainer Sean Tarry to test the merits of a promising unraced 2yo paid dividends at Turffontein on Saturday when the big Trippi colt Flying Myth slammed his six opponents to win the R150 000 Listed Storm Bird Stakes.
S’manga Khumalo steers Flying Myth to a good first win (Pic – JC Photos)
Throwing unraced horses into features is not generally done by trainers in this country, but Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry have both had the bombs to do it from time to time.
On Saturday we witnessed a cracking winning debut by Flying Myth, a son of a very decent mare who Sean Tarry trained to five wins.
And the big fellow was allowed to start at 5-2 in the face of support for the experienced and beautifully bred Rivarine, who went off an 11-10 favourite.
The son of Var showed early pace in the 1000m feature and led Flying Myth, with Rob’s Jewel and Fresh in the mix.
At the 200m marker, Rivarine looked to have the upper hand, but S’manga Khumalo was breathing fire (he landed up with 6 winners on the day) and he sent Flying Myth to fetch Rivarine.
In a matter of strides Flying Myth showed genuine ability and courage and had taken control. He went on to beat Rivarine by 0,30 lengths in a time of 56,43 secs.
Fresh was not disgraced 0,80 lengths back in third, with KZN challenger Rob’s Jewel back in fourth after looking threatening inside the 200m marker.
The winner received 3kgs from Rivarine and Sean Tarry was typically hesitant about spewing forth superlatives.
“I must say he was an absolute athlete at the sale. He is a big horse and he ran green here, so it was a good win. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – what did we beat? We don’t know that yet. He will do the talking on the track,” he said.
An R800 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale Book 1 graduate, the Klawervlei bred Flying Myth is a son of Trippi out of the five time winning speedster Mana Mou (by Captain Al), who, as said earlier, was also trained by Sean Tarry.
He is now one from one and banked a first cheque of R93 750.
Flying Myth looks one for the notebook.
