Sun Met winner Oh Susanna has already made a complete recovery from the bruised heel that caused her to miss last Friday’s clash with the colts in the Daisy Guineas.

Justin Snaith said yesterday: “I had to change the off-fore shoe as it was uncomfortable but she is fine again now. With some horses I might have taken a chance but not with this one. She is only three and she has a hell of a future ahead of her.”

Oh Susanna (Liesl King)

She will now make her KZN debut in the Woolavington on June 2 and this means, that if she is to go on to the Vodacom Durban July, the great race will – ominously – be her second run after a rest. Does Snaith believe in this red warning signal?

“It doesn’t really bother me and certainly I am not going to let it do so,” he answered. “Sometimes the second run is a horse’s worst but sometimes it’s the best. And, don’t forget, I never really planned to run her in the Guineas but she was doing so well that I thought we would let her have a go at it.”

Snaith blames the unaccustomed floodlights for Snowdance’s shock defeat at 1-4 in the Daisy Fillies Guineas and said: “As soon as she came into the parade ring I could see there were problems and in the race itself she wasn’t as settled as she normally is. Had it been run during the day I believe she would have won. Hopefully she has learned and will be more settled next time.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe added: “She got revved up in the parade ring and, as she is a big-striding horse, I let her go on. In the straight I thought she would quicken but she didn’t.”

But apparently the benefits of the race are already beginning to show as Snaith said: “She has come on a lot since Friday and she already looks a lot fitter.”

He is now looking for a suitable prep before the Garden Province on July day. Do It Again’s win the Daisy Guineas, though, has convinced him that all is on course with his 2018 KZN ambitions. “I am happy where my horses are – we said we would come in quietly – and we are in a happy place with them all.”

The fact that Sean Tarry was able to peg back less than a third of Snaith’s R3.1million trainers’ log lead on Champions Day at Turffontein also played a part in boosting the feeling of well-being!

By Michael Clower