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Marenostro confirmed his place as one of Sydney’s best wet-trackers with a gritty win at Rosehill on Saturday but trainer Chris Waller was quick to point out he’s no one-trick pony.
The five-year-old recorded his seventh wet-track victory, and fourth on heavy ground, in posting his ninth success in the FIIG Handicap (1400m).
Waller said Marenostro, his 146th city winner this season, is the perfect advertisement for Sydney racing as he lifted his prizemoney beyond $350,000.
“It’s important for these horses to win at this time of year, or run second or third, it’s great prizemoney in Sydney,’’ he said. “He’s obviously got some ability, he’s not just a one-dimensional horse on a wet track, and he’s continued to improve.
“It’s easy to get sucked in going to bigger races but it’s just as important we focus on our Saturday racing in Sydney.’’
Marenostro ($2.40) made it two wins from as many starts this time in as he outlasted a game Inz’n’out ($3.10) by just over a length with Group 1 winner River Lad ($13) a couple of lengths astern.
Waller said the gelding has done a fantastic job for the stable and his owners in the past year as he’s risen through the grades quickly. But he admits he got the horse wrong early in his career.
“Early days, he fooled us that he might be a middle-distance horse; we got that wrong, he’s a better 1400m-miler,’’ Waller said. “So I think in three weeks there’s a similar race over a mile at Randwick, we know it will be reasonably wet.’’
The runner-up can count himself unlucky to have run into a superior wet-tracker at just his second attempt at 1400m.
Unfortunately, he bumped into another Waller galloper at his only other try — he finished second to Australia’s superstar Winx in a two-year-old event about this time two years back.
Waller said the fact Marenostro was able to run the leader down was a testament to how well he is going. – The Daily Telegraph