Meri may stay racing a bit longer Meri Devie may have earned herself a spring campaign and delayed her trip to the paddocks after winning on her stable debut at Naas. Connections were planning a different route for the six-year-old mare, but her 13-length win in a beginners’ chase on Sunday has caused a possible rethink. Paul Nolan was impressed with Meri Devie’s first run for him since her switch from Willie Mullins’ yard. The County Wexford trainer, who has had two winners since New Year’s Day, said: “It was nice for Meri Devie to win at Naas on Sunday, and I’ll see what John (Brennan, owner) wants to do now. “He is away at the moment — but it might be worth putting back her covering date a couple of months, because there is more prize money to be won with her over fences this spring.” Nolan has some thinking to do as well about another six-year-old after Latest Exhibition’s promising racecourse debut last month. He said: “I ran a nice horse in Latest Exhibition in a bumper at Limerick over Christmas, and he finished second, and we are now debating whether to go hurdling. “He is out of a good mare (Aura About You) we had — and he is a big, scopey, backward-type horse. “You’d imagine he could win his bumper — but when the ground turns soft the bigger yards will have lorry loads of very classy bumper types ready to run, so we are debating about going straight hurdling. “It will be Jim’s (Mernagh, owner) decision, and we’ll see what happens, but he is a promising horse.”
