David Thiselton

 

Gavin Lerena and the Drakenstein Stud-bred One Stripe did South Africa proud in the Gr 1 US$1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf invitational at Gulf Stream Park on Saturday and were cost victory only because they ran out of race track on the tight track, which has a straight of probably less than 400m long.

The Hollywood Racing and Rikesh Sewgoolam-owned One World colt pinged the gates and Lerena then did what the horse likes i.e. just left him alone and allowed him to find a rhythm.

One Stripe ended up one wide of the rail, which was important as it would allow him some options in the straight, and he was about fourth last in the 12 horse field. .

He was a bit tight for room in between horses though.

The horse on his outside moved up as they began rounding the turn three furlongs from home.

Gavin was thus able to switch One Stripe outward and he followed the outside train, where there was good pace as another horse had made a surging run from second last.

South African fans were not too perturbed when One Stripe did not make immediate inroads after the slingshot in to the straight and lost a little bit of ground to the horse he had followed, Almendares.

He has always taken his time to accelerate and this is because Gavin, as a fine horseman, ensures he is balanced before asking him for his final effort.

Gavin switched him further outward into space and then changed whip hands and it looked at this stage as if the horses on the inside were getting away, including Test Score who had hit the front with Almendares challenging him.

However, One Stripe then took off and began eating up the ground on the outside.

South African fans held their breath as it was touch and go whether he would fetch his Graham Motion-trained stablemate Test Score.

However, he just ran out of real estate and he was beaten a neck.

Graham Motion will now rest Test Score, but he said big things lay ahead for One Stripe, who had clearly enjoyed being stepped up beyond a mile for the first time.

He praised Lerena’s ride and rightly so. It was Gavin’s first ever ride in the USA, where the style of racing is very different to South Africa, and yet his ride was faultless.

One Stripe had impressed in his previous start over a mile on the same course and was just 0,4 seconds outside the course record.

One of the presenters did not give him much chance of a repeat, pointing out he had beaten horses last time out that would be “100/1 shots” if they were in the Pegasus Turf and then pointing out his unimpressive run in the Gr 1 Woodbine Mile and a “terrible” run in the Gr 1 Breeders Cup Turf.

However, South African fans who know One Stripe would have seen the Woodbine Mile not panning out well under a ride that could have been criticised and he was given a ride in the Breeders Cup that went completely against his style as he was sent to the front at a fast pace, whereas he is a horse who likes to be left alone early before using his magnificent turn of foot in the straight.

Furthermore, there is nobody who knows One Stripe better than Gavin Lerena.

Gavin had a restriction on his visa and was thus unable to ride in more than just the one race, which was not ideal having never ridden in the USA before.

However, he is the ultimate professional and would have watched plenty of replays plus the racing on the day and he walked the course beforehand.

The betting public had more faith in One Stripe than the aforementioned presenter did and he was second favourite behind hot favourite Program Trading, who finished fifth.

It was a great day for Hollywood Racing and Riskesh Sewgoolam as they have much to look forward to with this star colt.

South African success did not end with One Stripe, because in the main event, the Gr 1 US$3 million Pegasus World Cup, the reigning champion White Abbario is part-owned by USA-based South African Gary Barber and he only just failed to defend his title in the dirt race. He was caught late by the outsider Skippylongstocking and finished a 1,75 length second.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong on Sunday the legendary Silent Witness, who was always ridden by South African legend Felix Coetzee, is now only the joint Hong Kong record-holder of a winning sequence as the world’s best sprinter Ka Ying Rising cruised to his 17th win in a row under Zac Purton. The New Zealand-bred David Hayes-trained gelding won the Gr 1 The Centenary Sprint Cup over 1200m.

Silent Witness was unbeaten when he gained his 17th successive victory, whereas Ka Ying Rising did suffer two early defeats.

The world’s highest earning racehorse ever, Romantic Warrior, also won a Gr 1 at Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting. The Danny Shum-trained gelding won the HK$13 million Stewards Cup over 1600m under James McDonald.