Oh Susanna is something special
OH SUSANNA was a shoo-in for this year’s Equus Horse Of The Year award and her trainer Justin Snaith spoke about his first recollections of this superbly bred daughter of Street Cry. Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud bought her USA-bred dam Sharp Susan (Touch Gold (USA)) in Australia and Oh Susanna was foaled down in Australia before being flown to South Africa.
Snaith recalled, “Gaynor sent her to our yard as one of a batch of five young horses and nobody told me anything about her being a foal of Sharp Susan.
“Two months into training I phoned Kevin Sommerville (the racing manager of Drakenstein) and asked him ‘where did this one come from, because there is something here.’
“I also sent a whatsapp to Gaynor telling her I had a feeling about this horse and she replied saying, yes, she had been hoping she would be something special.
“I then asked Kevin to send me the full pedigree and upon viewing it I could see what the possibilities were.
“One thing I know about Street Cry fillies is that when they are good they are world class and I had a feeling she would be one of those.”
Sharp Susan
Sharp Susan won both a Group 2 and a Group 3 over nine furlongs on turf as a three-year-old in the USA and Oh Susanna is her third foal.
Snaith’s hopes soared again after Oh Susanna's debut at Kenilworth over 1200m.
He recalled, “Corne Orffer gave her a beautiful educational ride and she was only just beaten.”
In her next start she was backed into 8-10 and cruised in by 5,5 lengths under Bernard Fayd’Herbe.
Snaith believed she would win her next start in the Listed Kenilworth Fillies Nursery over 1200m and recalled, “There was a big meeting in Durban that day so there weren’t any jockeys available and she was given one of the top three worst rides I’ve had to put up with in my career. She was caught in no man’s land and it was just all bad.”
She still managed to finish a 0,85 length third to the top class speedster Magical Wonderland.
She finished fifth in her reappearance over 1200m in the October of her threeyear-old year.
However, she then had bad draws in both the Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship and Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas respectively, which were both won by her stable companion Snowdance.
Snaith was unimpressed by the ride she was given in the former event too, where she finished fifth running on in eyecatching fashion.
Cape Guineas
In the Cape Guineas she was dropped out from a wide draw and ate up the ground in the straight from an impossible position to finish a 3,25 length second.
Snaith said, “The good thing about those bad draws and some bad rides was she was learning all the time, the potential was always there.”
From then on in she showed her true class. She first won the Grade 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes over 1800m in cosy fashion.
She then became the first three-year-old filly in more than 100 years to win the Grade 1 Sun Met and did it easing up.
It was five months before she ran again but that did not stop her winning KZN’s leading fillies classic, the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000.
Consequently, she not only won the Equus Horse Of The Year award on Tuesday night but also the Champion three-year-old filly and Champion Middle distance horse awards.
She only had that one run in KZN and is the first of the yard's Durban string to be back in training at her home training track, Phillippi.
Snaith said, “She didn’t tracks in Durban.
“She enjoys the heavier tracks and has been more relaxed back here in Cape Town.
“There were about 1000 horses at Summerveld and there are only 300 here at Phillippi, it’s a lot quieter and calmer like the light environment.”
He said Oh Susanna had grown two inches in height since leaving Durban.
Thoroughbreds can continue to grow until the age of five but this is an unusually pronounced growth spurt at this age. Snaith admitted, “I could not believe it, but she has definitely grown two inches.”
Snaith will soon be sitting down with Gaynor Rupert and Kevin Somerville to discuss the filly’s plans for the season.
Signore Fox
Meanwhile, Oh Susanna’s half-brother by Exceed And Excel, Signore Fox, won his first start as a three-year-old in Australia by 3,3 lengths two weeks ago.
Sharp Susan is currently in the U.K and is in foal to the world’s leading stallion Galileo.
Snaith’s disappointment of the season was Snowdance’s succession of three runner up finishes in KZN.
On top of her Cape Fillies Guineas she had also won the Grade 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1 600m on Met day, so her KZN campaign cost her any chance of being a serious competitor to Legal Eagle for the Equus Champion Miler award.
One of Snaith’s chief aims this season is to gain revenge on those horses who beat Snowdance in Durban and the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate is thus high on his agenda. Whether Oh Susanna also lines up for that race remains to be seen.
Snaith concluded, “A lot of negative things are being said about racing at present but I think we are heading for exciting times.
Gold Circle have taken the lead in marketing racing and I hope the others follow suit.”
Snaith also collected the national champion trainer award on Tuesday night.
Oh Susanna is the third Horse Of The Year he has had in his career, the others being Legislate (2013/2014) and Futura (2014/2015).