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Gentildonna shrugs off rough trip in Sheema Classic

Gentildonna had the gears to rescue victory from defeat, and completed a clean sweep of course records in the day's turf stakes (Frank Sorge/Horsephotos.com) Sunday Racing Co.'s Gentildonna, runner-up to the ill-fated St Nicholas Abbey in last year's Group 1, $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic, overcame a checkered passage in the stretch to go one better on Saturday. Short of room when hemmed in by 2012 Sheema hero Cirrus des Aigles, jockey Ryan Moore managed to extricate her from the dicey situation, and the Deep Impact mare had the turn of foot to turn a luckless defeat into a cozy victory. The race was marred early by the tragedy that befell Mars. Once a highly-regarded member of the Ballydoyle team, the well-bred son of Galileo was making his third start for Mike de Kock, but things went horribly wrong. Mars swerved out abruptly on the first turn, hampering a couple of rivals. He ultimately crashed through the far outside rail and collapsed, throwing Richard Hughes. The promising four-year-old colt reportedly died of a suspected cardiac event. Hughes was momentarily winded after landing on his back, and apparently escaped with cuts and bruises. He was taken to the hospital for precautionary X-rays. Meanwhile, the Sheema field continued on, led in a surprising turn of events by the filly Denim and Ruby, best known as a closer in Japan. Festive Cheer, stablemate of 5-2 favorite Magician from the Aidan O'Brien yard, and American hope Twilight Eclipse kept tabs on the leader. Ambivalent, the third distaffer in the field, also took up a forward spot. Gentildonna, the second choice at 3-1, settled just about midpack, until creeping up behind the front rank approaching the homestretch.

But Cirrus des Aigles was pinning her in under a nifty bit of race-riding by Christophe Soumillon. The French gelding thereby launched his bid first, going after Ambivalent, who had briefly gained the lead from the weakening Denim and Ruby.

As Cirrus des Aigles punched clear, Gentildonna appeared to have suffered costly trouble. Yet the mare wasn't done yet. Altering course around Cirrus des Aigles, Moore conjured up her best effort, and she rallied in deep stretch to defeat Cirrus des Aigles by 1 1/2 lengths. She negotiated about 1 1/2 miles on good turf in a course-record 2:27.25, rounding out a grand slam of records in all four turf stakes on the card, and vindicating trainer Sei Ishizaka's belief that she was indeed better than in her last trip to Dubai.

"She's getting even better," Ishizaka reiterated. "It was a tough race. Her main target will be a third attempt at the Japan Cup. This was her second time and she's really getting used to being here and I thought she would make it when Ryan shifted her to the outside. I am impressed with her gutsy performance."

"It's hard to know just how good she is because when she gets to the front she doesn't do a lot," Moore said, "but she's very tough, and a hard horse to get to the bottom of."

Cirrus des Aigles (right) tried to keep Gentildonna in a pocket, but his gambit was foiled (Andrew Watkins/Dubai Racing Club) Soumillon praised the eight-year-old Cirrus des Aigles. "He ran a fabulous race," the rider said. "I thought that he was going to win. Even when I saw Gentildonna, I thought she would find it difficult to catch us. When my horse quickened, he did it really well but (Gentildonna) is an outstanding champion and she beat us easily today. But I'm happy that he is once again on the top of his game." Ambivalent ran the race of her life for third, only a half-length astern of Cirrus des Aigles. Empoli garnered fourth in a blanket finish with Dominant, Magician, Meandre, Mount Athos, Dunaden, Denim and Ruby, Excellent Result, Twilight Eclipse and the distanced Festive Cheer and Dubday. Adrie de Vries, who rode Empoli, regretted the interference he suffered from Mars. "When the horse ran off at the first bend, he wiped me out," de Vries said. "He did very well to run on into fourth -- unlucky." Dubday was another compromised by the stricken Mars. "I was lucky to stay on when Mars broke down (sic) and carried us out," jockey Frankie Dettori said. "I was looking at the turf where I was about to fall, but he managed to find a leg and stayed upright. I gave him a chance to get back in the race, but he really had no chance, so I let him come home in his own time up the straight. There'll be another day for him."

Suguru Hamanaka, the jockey aboard Denim and Ruby, explained her reversal of tactics.

"The start was quicker than expected which is why we took the front position," Hamanaka said. "She was exciting during the trip and couldn't save for the late run. This is not her racing style, so she didn't run well today."

In contrast, Twilight Eclipse got his usual trip, but couldn't deliver.

"My horse was on his race (near the front)," jockey Jose Lezcano said. "I was in the position I wanted to be, but when I asked him he didn't go." 

Gentildonna boasts a line of 15-9-3-1, reflecting six Group 1 triumphs. During her Japanese Horse of the Year season in 2012, she swept the Fillies' Triple Crown -- the Oka Sho (Japanese One Thousand Guineas), Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and Shuka Sho -- and prevailed in an all-out brawl with Orfevre in the Japan Cup. She also scored in a pair of classic trials, the Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen over males and the Sho Rose.

After settling for second in the 2013 Sheema, Gentildonna finished third in the Takarazuka Kinen. She returned from her summer vacation in the Tenno Sho Autumn, where she ran into a buzzsaw named Just a Way. The Tenno Sho produced two winners on World Cup night, for Just a Way scorched to a course record-setting romp in the Duty Free.

Gentildonna got a rider switch to Moore for the November 24 Japan Cup, and the two immediately hit it off. Under a well-timed ride, she beat Denim and Ruby by a nose to become the first horse in history to win two Japan Cups. Gentildonna resurfaced with a sixth in the February 16 Kyoto Kinen, but improved from that tightener to earn glory in the desert.

Bred by Northern Racing in Japan, Gentildonna is a full sister to multiple Grade 3 vixen Donau Blue, a multiple Group 1-placed performer who was most recently second in the January 25 Kyoto Himba. They are out of the Group 1-winning Bertolini mare Donna Blini, victorious in the Cheveley Park and Cherry Hinton in 2005.

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