'Hope we do it again!': Ameeta Mehra

African Gold has won all his five starts, including the Colts' Championship Stakes both at Bangalore and Hyderabad

Sunday's HPSL Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr 1) at the Mahalaxmi racetrack has only six runners in the fray. This is one of the smallest 2000 Guineas fields in several years--and there is a reason. African Gold, the Multidimensional - Botswana three-year-old trained by the Bangalore-based trainer Ms Parvati Byramji, has arrived at Mahalaxmi for the big race.

Ms Ameeta Mehra, owner of the Usha stud, is keeping her fingers crossed for a back-to-back 2000 Guineas victory after Synthesis last year ended a 13-year drought in this race for her farm. "Hope Usha (stud) can do it again this year! I believe African Gold has a good chance to win," Ameeta Mehra told mid-day on Friday, "in fact, if African Gold were to win, it would make his sire (father) Multidimensional one of the rare few stallions to sire the winner of all the Indian Classics, including the Sprinters', Stayers', the Super Mile and the Invitation Cup!"

African Gold has won all his five starts, including the Colts' Championship Stakes both at Bangalore and Hyderabad. The champion horse, however, will have to contend with the champion trainer--Pesi Shroff, who has pitched in three of the five horses taking him on. Among them is Santissimo (Gusto - Beldon Hill), who was involved in a photo finish with African Gold in their only encounter more than four months ago at Bangalore over the same trip (1600m). Shroff is clearly leaving nothing to chance, going by the fact that he has asked Irish jockey Oisin Murphy to specially fly in to ride Santissimo on Sunday.

The champion western India trainer has also pitched in Psychic Star (Multitude - Psychic Light), incidentally, the only filly in the fray, who just last Sunday won the JSK1 Indian 1000 Guineas (Gr 1) in great style. Psychic Star's transformation of form has been incredible--she took four stars to win her first race, and then quickly won group 2 and group 1 races in a span of only three weeks. Psychic Star was also bred at the Usha stud. "Psychic Star is a game filly, and extremely talented," said Ameeta, "however, she is running within a week, and is facing specialist milers." Yes, that's true, but it is also true that the owners of Psychic Star (Ameeta is one on them) have paid a hefty late entry fee of Rs seven lakh to get her into the 2000 Guineas fray. So one thing is certain: despite the towering presence of African Gold--and the smallest field size in several years--the HPSL Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr 1) will have every horse and jockey going hell for leather for the winning honours.

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