After Pennywise, it is now Streetwise’s turn to give the South African pair of trainer Ricardo Le Grange and owner Bernard Kantor another fillip in the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series on Sunday.
Both Argentinian-bred two-year-olds by Pure Prize, the same sire as Le Grange’s top gun Quechua, the duo were specifically purchased through Argentinian bloodstock agent Ignacio Pavlovsky with the Singapore juvenile series in mind.
Both had come through their prep very well, but it was always apparent Pennywise was just a touch more precocious than Streetwise. He showed it when he swept the first two Legs, the Kranji Nursery Stakes (1000m) and the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale Stakes (1100m) before being tipped out for the fifth and final Leg, the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m) on July 13.
On the other hand, Streetwise had a less auspicious debut after he was scratched at the barriers in the first Leg. He did bounce back with a satisfactory run in the third Leg, the IRT Juvenile Stakes over 1200m, mustering a sixth place to Lim’s Lightning from a wide alley.
The stars were aligned for Streetwise in the fourth and penultimate Leg, the $90,000 Inglis Ready2Race Stakes (1200m) this time. He had one run under the belt and above all, the substantial advantage of jumping from a better barrier in two.
Handled patiently by jockey Barend Vorster, Streetwise warmed up to the task from the top of the straight when race-leader Lim’s Dream (Ryan Curatolo) kicked clear by three lengths in a bid to make every post a winning one.
At the 200m, Daniel Meagher’s two-year-old looked like he could go all the way, but Streetwise along with another “Street”, James Peters’ Street Party (Alan Munro) and Michael Clements’ filly Siam Vipasiri (Daniel Moor) were finishing at the rate of knots down the middle.
Well ridden by Vorster, Pennywise got to the weakening bunny first, and kept sticking it out to post a half-length victory from Siam Vipasiri with Street Party third another length away. The winning time was 1min 10.82secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
“Streetwise has been working well in the lead-up to his first race, but he drew 14 and it was virtually impossible from that barrier,” said Le Grange.
“It was still a good run and I was more confident he would run well today. It was a great ride from Barend, and I’m happy for him as this win can only boost his confidence.
“It’s also super for Bernard to have two lovely Argentinian horses on his hands.”
Vorster said that Streetwise might not be the epitome of his moniker at this stage, but what he lacks in experience, he makes up for it in raw ability.
“All along, we thought he was a nice-looking individual, but he’s taken a lot of time to get right as he is still immature,” said the South African jockey.
“He’s only a young horse and he will improve further as he goes over more ground.
“During the race, I knew there would be a few who would go quickly in front and I was quite happy to take a sit on the fence.
“I was able to pick my way into the race, but when he came out, he was not as quick and I went back to the inside.
“He was better when he had something to chase and when the horse on the outside (Siam Vipasiri) came up, that got him going to the line.”
While Pennywise is a confirmed starter for the big race on July 13, Le Grange preferred to err on the side of caution with the Sunday winner.
“At this stage, Pennywise is going for the last Leg. We’ll have to see how Streetwise pulls up after today’s race,” he said.
