Ciaron Maher’s mare made an impressive return on Wednesday

There are some names that are given to horses that are brave. Pharari is one of them. She was always going to get plenty of interest on the betting sites with that but she is now starting to live up to what they chose for her. 

Even for the most avid horse racing fan, a midweek card can be hard to find excitement in. That was not the case on Wednesday at Sandown as Pharari put herself front and centre with a flying display. She looks like a smart performer in the making over 1000m. 

Pharari roars back into action at Sandown 

No horse has ever run 1000m at Sandown as quickly at Benchmark 70 level as Pharari did on Wednesday. The four-year-old looked a very smart type when she blitzed fields at Cranbourne in May and Ballarat in June. 
 
Both of those were on a much wetter surface than Sandown but she coped well with the Good 3 ground. That will have pleased connections more than anything else, she has proved she is not only quick in the mud. 
 
A 2.75l victory was not quite as dominant as the 8l and 5.75l she put into the fields in the above two wins but it was still a blazing display of sheer speed. In her races last season, she tracked the speed but took the lead today. Once in front, she never looked like coming back. 

Her pedigree suggests anything but speed! 

Given how quick Pharari is, it is a surprise to look at her pedigree. She is by American Pharoah, a US Triple Crown winner. His best form came at 2000m, winning a Belmont Stakes over 2400m. He has made a smart start to his stallion days but generally with runners over further than 1000m. 
 
Her dam ran only once for Godolphin. Her top half-siblings were Australian Derby runner-up Tupac Amaru and Champion Stakes runner-up Aramayo. Those races were over 2400m and 2000m respectively. 
 
The grand-dam Peruvian is a half-sister to crack European runners In The Wings and Morozov, both 2400m+ horses who made their money at stud as jump racing stallions. It is absolutely incredible therefore that Pharari has ended up as a 1000m speedball! 

Black type for Pharari in the spring? 

That was the suggestion that hoop Mark Zahra made when he got off her on Wednesday. He said that she is very fast and more than capable of picking up black type this spring. It seems like her training team is a little more cautious when it comes to her targets. 
 
They feel like she is going to be better suited to going up the grades slowly. Her Wednesday win will move her mark north of 70 with a perfect race for her at The Valley in a few week's time. It will be interesting to see if the ownership group allows Maher to bring her along slowly or if they are looking to go for broke at a higher level. 
 
She has run once in a Listed race so far which was the sole flop in her career. The straight track at Flemington was blamed for that rather than the quality of opposition. She showed her class again on Wednesday and proved she can do it on a good track. That opens up a lot more doors.

With her performances on the track so far coupled with an eye-catching name, the horse racing bookmakers will always have an eye on her. She will not be much of a price no matter what company she runs in but we’ll have to wait to see if she is Listed class or higher!