ARTS lifts the Gr.3, McDowell Signature Turf Club Trophy in great style
By Bob Sawhny
Pune: Under the tutelage of the highly skilful and master trainer Cooji Katrak from day one, the exquisitely bred four year old rig -Arts (Ontario-(USA) – Shanley- (UAE) eventually showed, that the incredible son of Ontario is oozing with tremendous class.
Last Sunday, in the 1400M, McDowell Signature Turf Club Trophy (Gr.3) as the 15-horse field settled down to race, amidst traffic problems, and passed the 1000M, Portrush led from Spirituall. Further down, came Forest Flair and Beyond Belief followed by Arts, who was lying a near about superb 5th, in a closely bunched up pack. Then, Portrush entered the straight first followed bySpirituall and Arts, who started to accelerate on the rails. Soon, thereafter Arts whizzed past one and all in a trice with his rider SurajNarredu giving him just two backhanders, which saw his mount easily pass the opposition by a widening 3 -3/4 lengths thereby making the race a ‘No Contest’.
Trainer Katrak’s 4 year-old rig is vastly improved since the last Mumbai Season 2009-10 and has yet to peak. Suffice it to say, that the rig - Arts, is a male horse that seems to be carrying either one or two testicles concealed in its abdomen, making him appear to be a gelding, while behaving like a stallion. This freakish type of horse is medically described as a ‘cryptorchid’ literally meaning “hidden testicle”.
Be that as it may, Arts pedigree is superb. His ‘sire’ Ontario was a leading first season sire in India. His progeny have been doing well and are expected to do even better in the coming years as he has covered some top quality mares in the last two years. From the eleventh crop of Storm Cat, Ontario, a half-brother to top-class miler and classic sire Desert Prince, won the Gr.3 Anglesey Stakes at Curragh as a two-year-old, defeating Spartacus, a dual Gr.1 winning juvenile in Europe in 2002 and now a sire atCoolmore.
Ontario's dam Flying Fairy is by a champion broodmare sire Bustino out of Fairy Footsteps, winner of the 1,000 Guineas. Since Ontario himself did well both on soft and hard ground, his progeny should relish Indian conditions which has a mix of tan-based grass tracks as well as the gravel-based monsoon grass tracks.
A further boost to Art’s pedigree is that his ‘dam’ Shanley’s – sire, was the great multi-classic colt Singspiel, whose stakes of $ 5,952,825 substantiates his superlative class. Hence, in my opinion, on his mind-boggling pedigree and the terms of the race which appeared pretty rosy for him, the in-form son of Ontario, who has easily beaten the likes of the speedy duo - El Tropico and Scholar giving them a lump of weight on the opening day, convincingly got the extra 200M and achieved an encore in resplendent style.
Therefore, Arts who commands respect on his classy pedigree alone should complete a hat-trick up to a mile in a terms race, as he is presently in mind-boggling form and has yet to peak.
