Owner Suzette Viljoen edged ever closer to a hotly contested SA Champion Owner title when her Querari filly Maryah produced the first real bump of the Marshalls World Of Sport Festival Of Racing as she cruised to victory in the Prosport International Gr2 Debutante, presented by Gagasi FM.
Picked in the pre-race parade by on-course presenter Kevin Shea as the standout, Maryah paid R26 a tote win as she showed her run in the Zulu Kingdom Explorer Gr2 Golden Slipper to be all wrong as she came from some lengths off under the energetic Sean Veale to beat Gauteng raider Remember When (4-1) by 2,40 lengths in a time of 72,08 secs.
Sean Veale salutes as Maryah causes the upset (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Gavin van Zyl’s Crimson Causeway (8-1) challenged strongly late to be shaded into third.
Trained by Lezeanne Forbes, the Connemara Stud-bred winner is a daughter of Querari (Oasis Dream) out of the stamina endowed four-time winner Mary Hinge (Second Empire).
A R300 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale graduate, the winner is a sister to the well-performed Mary O (Oratorio), who races in the same silks in the Forbes yard.
A winner of 2 of her 3 starts, Maryah took her stakes to R159 375.
Watch the replay:
