A large measure of intrigue, coupled with a dash of exotic flair, surrounded today’s fifth race, an allowance/optional claiming event for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf.
But according to Vispi Patel, the co-owner of betting favorite Serjeant At Arms, the atmosphere in India’s racing community was positively electric – even at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“Everybody there woke up to watch him run,” Patel said of the 5-year-old India-bred horse, who was 12-for-14 in his homeland with two seconds, a record that included four Grade I victories and earnings of $670,325.
While he didn’t win, Serjeant At Arms acquitted himself admirably in his first stateside race and first outing since Aug. 4. Ridden by Feargal Lynch, Serjeant At Arms threatened graded stakes-placed Scholar Athlete briefly in the stretch before settling for a second-place finish, three-quarters of a length behind the winner.
It is believed to be the first time a horse from India has competed at Tampa Bay Downs.
The top two finishers are trained by H. Graham Motion. Pablo Morales rode the winner, a West Point Thoroughbreds-owned, 5-year-old gelding who improved to 5-for-21.
Scholar Athlete paid $14 to win. Afterward, Motion said he was pleased with the effort of both horses.
“Scholar is a very hard-knocking horse. I thought (Serjeant At Arms) ran very well,” said Motion, who had been working the horse on the turf course at his Palm Meadows Training Center base in Boynton Beach since late December.
“It was a lot to ask being his first race over here, plus he was going the opposite way today (counter-clockwise, as opposed to clockwise in India) and he hadn’t run for a while. And this was a competitive field; it was like a Grade III stakes race.
“So it just looked like maybe it got to him a little bit the last part of the race,” Motion said. “Plus, Scholar has been running all winter and is very fit.”
The winner’s time on a firm turf course was 1:47.64, slightly more than a second off Tepin’s course record.
Patel, who owns Serjeant At Arms in partnership with Khushroo N. Dhunjibhoy, said the horse’s dam, Rahy’s Serenade, is a blue-hen broodmare who has produced numerous graded-stakes winners.
Motion and Patel will wait a while to decide what’s next for the no-longer mysterious visitor to the Oldsmar oval. “We just wanted to get him started today,” the conditioner said.
