Merryman hopes there's bigger things to come for Somnium
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Somnium, a Pennsylvania-bred filly trained by Elizabeth Merryman, came within a half-length of upsetting the last-out Grade 2 winner Roja in the $150,000 Andy Guest Stakes on Saturday at Colonial Downs. Merryman said getting the 4-year-old to this point has been about building confidence.
“She’s a really, really nice filly that’s just starting to get her confidence and learn, basically, to be a racehorse,” Merryman said. “Last year, she had a bunch of things go wrong racing- and training-wise that gave her little setbacks.”
After an esteem-boosting victory at Penn National in May, Somnium finished a game fourth in the $100,000 The Very One at Laurel Park and came back two weeks later to win a second-level allowance. For the Andy Guest, Merryman shipped her to Virginia the morning of the race, afraid that she would act up if she had to stay at the unfamiliar track overnight.
All the preparation paid off, and with a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure, Somnium gave the Graham Motion-trained graded stakes winner Roja everything she could handle near the wire. Merryman won’t wait long for her next start and said she will point to the $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash at Laurel on Sept. 12.
Witty, Merryman’s other stakes entrant on Saturday, had a more unfortunate time in Virginia in the $150,000 Van Clief, finishing eighth by two lengths. The eight-time stakes winner seemed to handle the morning trip worse than his stablemate, and during the race, he was struck across the eye with a clod, similar to an incident that sidelined him for several months as a 3-year-old.
Merryman said she was concerned about a potential layoff, but the damage was not severe and he recovered well overnight on Monday. The trainer hopes to point him to the $100,000 Laurel Dash next month.
Somnium and Witty are out of the dam Zeezee Zoomzoom, who also produced the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel. All three were bred by Merryman, and a stakes victory by Somnium could improve her broodmare prospects down the line.
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