One Stripe (yellow colours) in a picture taken just after the start of the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (picture supplied)
South African owners had double success at the Pegasus World Cup meeting, because 45 minutes after the Hollywood Racing and Rikesh Segoolam-owned One Stripe had done South African breeding proud by finishing second in the US$1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, White Abarrio, part-owned by USA-based South African Gary Barber, only just failed to defend his crown in the US$3 million Pegasus World Cup.
However, the focus was on the Drakenstein Stud-bred One World colt One Stripe, who now has the world at his feet after proving he enjoyed the step up to one mile and one furlong under a magnificent ride by Gavin Lerena.
The connections are yet to decide his next move, but trainer Graham Motion hinted afterwards that whilst the winner Test Score would be rested his stablemate One Stripe now had many options open to him and he was clearly optimistic about him having a bright future.
One Stripe failed by a neck to peg Test Score back.
It seemed to be the verdict of most that the key factor was the tightness of the Gulfstream Park turf track, where the straight must be less than 400m long, because in the end he just ran out of real estate as his powerful finishing run saw him closing rapidly and he was in front a stride after the line.
The Pegasus World Cup Turf did not seem to be remotely on the radar for One Stripe at Christmas time, but his fine run in an optional allowance claimer on Boxing Day swung it for him and Motion and his team deserve kudos for swinging his campaign around.
The US$6 million Dubai Turf now becomes a possibility and One Stripe has been nominated for that race.
However, there will otherwise be plenty of Gr 1 races for One Stripe to target in the USA with the US$600,000 Makers Mark Mile at Keeneland in April and the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs in August being examples.
One Stripe pinged the gates on Saturday 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 big 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 was beaten a neck.
Graham Motion 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.
