Pentagon Still In Great Winning Shape
Pentagon proved in no uncertain terms that his last-start maiden win was no fluke when he recorded an even more convincing win in the $75,000 Graduation race over 1400m on Sunday, albeit in less dominant fashion this time. The Ekraar four-year-old indeed thumped his Initiation rivals at his last outing, with many skeptical he would measure up against the likes of Lim’s Dashing and Siam Sapphire this time around.
No doubt it was a tougher proposition and he had to work a lot harder to find the line, but the way he found a second wind when he looked swamped at the 150m were the clear makings of a handy sort for Hill and his owners in the future.
Ridden by usual partner Sam Subian, Pentagon got away with some fairly cheap sectionals but looked to have a big task ahead when the small but select field (whittled down to six after leading chances Reddot Rising and Lim’s Knight were scratched) launched across the track with their final assaults.
Favourite Lim’s Dashing (Danny Beasley), Muscular Sprinter (Olivier Placais) and Siam Sapphire (Manoel Nunes) on the complete outside, all came on the offensive but could not quite peg back Pentagon who, somehow, hung in to his precarious lead, actually raising another gear to hold them all at bay.
In the end, it was Muscular Sprinter who won the battle for the minors one length astern with Mark Eclipse (Salim Yusoff) third another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 23.96secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
Hill said he did not heed some of the doubts cast about his ward’s ability to mix it with this kind of company, and was certainly repaid for his faith.
“I did hear some people say he didn’t beat much at his last run and had a soft lead and all that,” said the English handler.
“But I know what my horse is worth and even if it’s true he was up against a handy field, I was confident enough of a good run. It’s the way you win a race that counts."
“He’s a nice horse and I didn’t tie Sam down to any instructions. He’s got a lot of high cruising speed and if another horse was faster, I told him to let him go.
“At the 600m, I was screaming at Sam he should get going as he takes a long time to wind up. He looked beat at the 100m but that was when he showed he doesn’t have to lead: He came up with another kick.
“I will give him a break now as he’s had a long programme in, and I’ll then bring him back later in the year.” Sam said he decided to let slip some reins when he realised Muscular Sprinter was not that keen on leading shortly after barrier rise.
“No-one wanted to lead and I had no problem with him leading. I always had plenty of horse underneath me,” said the Malaysian jockey.
“I was able to control the race and from the 600m, I slowly started to dig him up and he just kept going.” Pentagon has now taken his budding stakes earnings even closer to the $100,000 mark for his connections.
Michael Lee – Singapore Turf Club – www.turfclub.com.sg Pentagon was a NZ$8,000 purchase for Dave Mee/Pinhook Bloodstock at the NZB South Island Sale 2014