Si Gentille has her say in the Gold Street Trophy
By Usman Rangila


March 09, 2005

Unruffled by the fact that she was taking on horses belonging to Class II despite just a debut win to boast of, the Subhag Singh trained Si Gentille finally had her say in the Gold Street Trophy, the main event in Wednesday’s small card of seven races. Si Gentille, who is by Torrential and was brought in-foal to Accommodating, was rated 49 at the start of the season and had finished third to Dancing Image in her first appearance. Her rating took a big leap after she ran fourth in the Indian 1000 Guineas behind Venus Arising. Si Gentille ran fifth in the Oaks and later finished nowhere in the Indian Derby. Young Subhag was quick to take stock of the situation and decided to exploit her over a mile journey. He was not let down by Si Gentille.

Frenchman Samuel Fargeat rode Si Gentille well off the pace as first Liesl and then Pitlochry led the field with Formidable Force and Noble Desire running in close attendance. Si Gentille moved up gradually to be in striking position as the field turned for home where Samuel changed gears to propel the filly into the lead. Si Gentille stretched out well to reach home safely. S. S. Rathore aboard Gold Star faced problems in settling the Arti Doctor saddled filly in the initial stages and Si Gentille had already sewn up the race by the time he could bring the favourite into contention. Formidable Force met interference in the closing stages of the race and ended sixth. The betting trend suggested that reconnaissance was the primary motive of S. Ganapathy’s ward during this visit to the racetrack. Imperialism took the consolation berth by pegging back Noble Desire on the post.

Ardmore (Alnasr Alwasheek-Private Collection) from the yard of Imtiaz Sait proved far too good for his eleven rivals in the Pertigalete Plate. Ardmore didn’t take the smartest of jumps from the gates but recovered quickly before any damage could happen to his chances. C. Alford settled him close to the rails in the rear as no-hoper Heart of Danger embarked on a start-to-finish mission, which came to an abrupt end in the home stretch. Roman King then flattered briefly till Alford could manoeuvre his way down the centre. Alford timed his challenge perfectly and went penetrating through between Uber Alles and Rich N Royal. The last named received enthusiastic support, which she couldn’t justify at all.

Pradeep Chouhan ridden Diffidence (Diffident-Mae West) avenged his defeat at the hands of Vrikodara when a gallant rally from the Zadmal Singh trainee humbled his conqueror in the shadow of the winning post. But for the reported loss of bit momentarily in the final run-in, Shiraz Sunderji trained Vrikodara was almost at the doorsteps of achieving a well-deserved hat-trick. Euro Star warmed up late to her task and denied Ace of Hearts the third spot.

Jockey Abhishek Habbu rode Aurelian to a short-head victory over Dancing Mystery (Concordial-Dancing Exemplary) in the curtain raiser but subsequently lost the race as the protest lodged by Vikram Walkar found favour with the Stewards. Sent out by Vinayak, Aurelian failed to keep a straight course and went on to Dancing Mystery and the Stewards didn’t have to deliberate much looking at the margin of victory. Fraud ran on when the race was over and should strike before the season ends. Abhishek was hell bent on completing forty career winners and that opportunity was provided by Soviet Fire, who was saddled by none other than his grandfather Janardhan. Soviet Fire (Bold Russian-Starfire Girl) took charge from Crown Affair and won warding off the threat posed by Back In Action. 

Mister Fixit (Diffident-Camouflage) from Don Surti’s barns went wire to wire in the hands of  C.Ruzaan and lasted out to win by whisker from the late finishing Stunning Force. Elusive Dream ran a game third ahead of Zante whose poor show resulted in a lot of money going down the drain. A resolute bid by jockey Amyn Merchant enabled Sangramsinh Joshi’s candidate Eternity (Tirol-Silent Tale) to get up just in time to overwhelm Highland Path in the concluding race. Highland Path was being hailed as a winner close home and it appeared that trainer Mansoor Shah, who was disappointed by Zante and Rich N Royal earlier, would finally lead in a winner. Eternity had other ideas and she played the role of a party-pooper to perfection.

Ardmore (C Alford up) winner of the Pertigalete Plate 

Diffidence (P S Chouhan up) winner of the Secret Treasure Plate Div-II

Soviet Fire (Abhishek up) winner of the Sonehro Plate

Eternity (Merchant up) winner of the Stingo Plate

Mister Fixit (Ruzan up), winner of the Secret Treasure Plate Div-I