Not many thoroughbred mares have their best seasons as seven-year-olds, but such is the case with the Paddy Lunn yard’s “ATM”, Quintella.

The mare has loved running on the poly, which is not surprising considering she is by Miesque’s Approval, and was the overall series winner of the recent KZN Summer Chapter Challenge series, accumulating 36 points. This season Quintella has run eight times for one win, three seconds, two thirds and two fourths. Her merit rating has consequently risen from 54 to 61 and having been on the edge of retirement she is now very much still in training.

Quintella (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Lunns have actually put her recent consistency not down to the poly, but down to a love of the tight Greyville track, which perfectly suits her hold up style and short run in. She has a fine turn of foot and her recent win over 1000m on the Greyville poly was only her second career victory, and was a long time in coming, having won her maiden over 1200m on the Greyville turf way back in April 2012.

The Lunns know all about preparing horses suited to Greyville Sprints as Paddy was the conditioner of one of the most loved Greyville specialists of modern times, The Barbican. This chestnut speedster by Volcanic out of Kiki Bar was virtually unbeatable over the Greyville 1000m, winning the Gr 2 Concord Stakes over that course and distance three years in succession between 1986 and 1988.

He was named ARCSA Champion Sprinter in 1987, a year after the yard scooped the ARCSA Horse Of The Year award with Model Man. The latter won four Gr 1s including the J&B Met in a glittering career, yet his possibly most talked about performance was in an A Division Handicap over the Greyville 1100m, a distance palpably too short. He gave weight to some of the best sprinters around that day and produced one of the most devastating finishing runs the course has ever witnessed from a seemingly hopeless position to get up in the last stride.

Quintella, despite her love of Greyville, will still be interesting over 1000m at Scottsville on December 23 as she has landed a plum low draw. One of the countries best up and coming riders Keagan de Melo has moulded a successful relationship with the mare and knows exactly how to bring the best out of her. Punters should not be concerned if they see her sitting well off the pace early as she is sure to be finishing strongly and De Melo has learnt exactly the best moment to deliver her telling challenge.

By David Thiselton