BE WATER MY FRIEND WINS FOR MATTHEW PARK

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 9, 2022

Mark Du Plessis rode a double at Doomben on July 9 … scoring on Be Water My Friend and Delyth.

Du Plessis had ridden the lightly raced four-year-old Be Water My Friend in its first start for trainer Matthew Park at Doomben on June 15, where the son of Headwater ran a most creditable second place when first-up, finishing just 0.20 off the Kris Lees trained Rapid Response in a Class 1 Plate.

Three-and-a-half weeks later Du Plessis was back aboard Be Water My Friend over the same track and distance (at Doomben over 1050m), this time in a No Metro Wins Handicap in which he would make no mistake with the Park trained runner proving too good for the opposition.

Be Water My Friend, who started favourite at $3.30, went back from a wide draw in the early part settling all of seven lengths off the lead before Du Plessis asked him to get closer as the field started to take the sweep to the home turn.

Be Water My Friend gradually did that, but, faced with a wall of runners in front of him, Du Plessis had no option but to switch his mount out, all of four wide on the turn, and he was riding Be Water My Friend pretty hard at that stage to help urge his mount forward into a challenging position.

With still four lengths to make up and eight runners left to pass on straightening, it looked for all the world at that stage that Be Water My Friend was too far back to have a major say in the outcome, but, as it turned out, he was far from finished and, when he started to go through his gears in a telling fashion coming through the 250m, he was about to change the whole complexion of the race.

By the 200m mark, Be Water My Friend still had those eight horses ahead of him, but he had halved his deficit to the leader and was now just three lengths back, the widest runner in clear air, and coming on strongly.

Such was his momentum, that by the 100m Be Water My Friend had already hit the front and from there he widened his advantage to a clearcut 1.50 lengths at the line, even with Du Plessis taking his foot off the accelerator over the closing stages.

This was Be Water My Friend’s second career win, but it had been a long time between drinks as his first win actually came on debut all the way back in May 2020.
While he is lightly raced … this was just his twelfth start … Be Water My Friend is well travelled in terms of the trainers he has been with.

That debut win came for the Tony and Maddysen Sears Training Partnership. After three runs there he was moved on to trainer Daiki Chujo where he had five starts before being transferred to trainer Damien Batters, where he had two starts before finding himself moved to Matthew Park.

Credit to Park then for seemingly finding the key to Be Water My Friend and for presenting him in such competitive form in the two runs since his return to action, particularly as his first-up run came after a seven-and-a-half month break from race action … and credit too to Mark Du Plessis for playing his part in helping Be Water My Friend’s recent resurgence.

Be Water My Friend won the opening race on the card. After race six Du Plessis had a double on the board after saluting on the Chris Munce trained Delyth.

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