Mr Whatever is all the rage
THE Paddy Lunn-trained Mr Whatever took well to the polytrack on Vodacom Durban July day and enjoyed both the return to 1 000m as well as being ridden from off the pace by Anton Marcus as he powered to his sixth career victory and his first at Greyville.
The four-year-old Mogok gelding was having just his third outing at the tight city track and will now attempt the traditional 1 000m July Day-Gold Cup Day double, which consists of the top division handicap event in the former meeting and the Listed Umgeni Handicap in the latter.
He was only given a two point raise for the win in the MR 104 Handicap, where he ran off a merit rating of 100 with a weight of 58kg and beat the speedy filly Schiffer by 0,75 lengths. Marcus relaxed him from the off from a draw of five and turned for home in about midfield on the rail. Coming off the false rail, he quickened superbly down the inside and having got the better of the fancied Eddie Sweat, he then fetched Schiffer and won by about 0,75 lengths.
Mr Whatever was unlucky in his previous start in the Gr 2 Post Merchants over 1 200m at Greyville, so won’t mind returning to the grass for the Umgeni, especially considering he has landed a really good draw.
In the Post Merchants he had to run around Happy Forever, who was back-pedalling after being pulled out of the race, so did well to finish just 1,9 lengths back in fifth.
The key to him might well be to run him from off the pace as he had previously always run handy and this created the impression that he might not see out 1 200m.
Therefore, the two point merit rated raise might well be manageable and he might also make his presence felt in the next couple of seasons over the further sprint distances.
However, as all six of his wins to date have been over 1 000m, he is sure to attract a lot of interest from punters on Gold Cup day. Mr Whatever will likely face a very competitive field in the Umgeni, as there are some talented sprinters among those that are still standing their ground.
Yesterday the Lunns pondered whether the Umgeni was actually the same race as the now defunct Gr 2 Concord Stakes over the same course and distance as it the only remaining 1 000m stakes race at Greyville.
The yard made the latter race their own in the mid 1980's as their speedy course specialist The Barbican won it for three years in succession.
It is not known yet whether Marcus will be aboard Mr Whatever again on Gold Cup Day, but he definitely deserves plenty of respect in this race and it would no surprise to see him complete the sprint race double.