Sydney on Merion’s radar

6 March 2015

The Sydney autumn carnival awaits Merion, as long as the New Zealand-bred races up to expectations this weekend.

The son of O’Reilly must first pass a test in the Gr.1 $A500,000 Australian Guineas at Flemington.

“This is the race we’ve aimed him at and he’s had two runs now,” trainer Mike Moroney said.

Merion was third when resuming and last time out he was fourth behind Wandjina in the Gr.3 CS Hayes Stakes.

“He’ll be on trial for Sydney at Flemington on Saturday. There are lots of options for a good three-year-old like him up there so we’ll see how he runs here first,” Moroney said.

Sav’s final resting place

“I’ve got a couple of very special bottles of wine that I’ve had for a number of years, and usually they would have been opened on a celebration, but I thought it was very pertinent, and well, it was a celebration, it was a celebration of his life,” Mark Chittick told The Straight.

19 June 2026

Savabeel: 2001—2026

Savabeel walked through our gates in 2005 and never stopped giving. Twenty-one years on, we said goodbye to our old friend, a horse who didn’t just shape a breeding industry, he defined one. There will never be another quite like him. Rest easy, Sav.