REEANON GIVES MARK DU PLESSIS THE FIRST LEG OF A DOUBLE AT DOOMBEN

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, June 1, 2022

By his own honest admission, Mark Du Plessis needed a winner and, as is so often the case when a dry run comes to an end, it didn’t end with one winner, but with two, as Du Plessis landed a double on the first day of June.

Reeanon, who was on debut, provided the first strike for Du Plessis.

Trainer Barry Baldwin had been very patient with the daughter Scissor Kick.

Reeanon did not race as a two-year-old and she had two trials very much apart (on October 26, 2021, and March 15, 2022) before being set up for her debut outing which came in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Fillies Maiden Plate over 1200m.

Reeanon, who jumped as the second favourite at $3.60 (one of only three runners quoted at under $10), landed midfield, but then went back to race in the second half of the field, some six lengths behind the $12 chance Roy’s Road who had pushed forward to lead early.

Du Plessis patiently held his position on Reeanon throughout the sweep to the turn and into the home straight where he had a decision to make when faced with a wall of horses in front of him.

That decision was to angle Reeanon towards the inside, which he had to do a second time approaching the 200m, but, as that pathway had opened up neatly enough for the Baldwin trained runner, Reeanon never missed a beat to plotting what would become a winning path.

At the 200m the tiring frontrunner Roy’s Road was the only runner Reeanon still had to pass to get into clear air and, once she did that by slipping through a relatively tight gap hard along the inside running rail, she extended beautifully.

At the 150m four runners remained in contention, spread right across the track, but Reeanon, who was building momentum with every stride was not going to be denied now.

She was strong to the line where she had opened up a winning margin of 1.50 lengths.

Both horse and rider had carried out their task to perfection in an impressive manner with Du Plessis making all of the right decisions as he expertly guided Reeanon through a maze of runners, and with the filly … on debut remember… displaying so many positive signs for an inexperienced horse by racing without any fear in-between runners, responding to every command and then underlining her potential prowess by staying strong to finish off the race with a flourish.

It had to be a very satisfying result for all concerned.

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