Going Somewhere closed powerfully along the inside and wore down favorite Indy Point to win the Gran Premio Internacional Carlos Pellegrini (Arg-I), South America’s signature race, Dec. 15 at San Isidro in Buenos Aires.
The lightly regarded but consistent Brazilian-bred 3-year-old gamely charged between horses in the stretch to win by 1 1/2 lengths while taking his career record to three wins, a second, and two thirds from seven career starts. He earned his first stakes win for owner-breeder Benjamin Steinbruck’s Haras Phillipson.
Under a ground-saving ride by Nelito Da Cunha, Going Somewhere convincingly defeated some of South America’s most accomplished horses and was timed in 2:22.20 for 2,400 meters (1 1/2 miles) on firm turf.
Da Cunha, who finished second in the Pellegrini with Beautiful Dancer in 1998 and fourth with Puerto Madero in 1999, said he took full advantage of how the race unfolded and had clear sailing when he guided Going Somewhere to the rail in the stretch to score a breakthrough.
“This is the race that every South American rider wants to win,” he said.
Winless in his first four starts—from 1,500 meters (7 1/2 furlongs) to 1,800 meters (1 1/8 miles), Going Somewhere found his winning stride when stretched out in his two previous starts—scoring at the Pellegrini distance Oct. 13 and going 3,000 meters (1 7/8 miles) Nov. 17, both on less than ideal turf conditions at Cidade Jardim in Sao Paulo.
Without a stakes start on his record, Going Somewhat looked to be overmatched on paper, and rumors swirled that his trip to Argentina came about only because there was an extra place on the plane for the flight from Brazil.
Trainer Florio Barbosa dismissed the rumors saying that his colt was racing and training well and he entered him in the Pellegrini with confidence, especially after his last start at the marathon distance.
“He was improving day by day,” Barbosa said. “He won at 3,000 meters in his last start.”
Didimo finished third in the 22-horse field, three-quarters of a length behind dual Argentine classic winner Indy Point, a son of Hill 'n' Dale Farms resident sire Indygo Shiner who was bidding to add a fourth top-level win to his record.
Winner of the Gran Premio Jockey Club (Arg-I) and Gran Premio Nacional (Arg-I), the first two jewels in Argentina’s Triple Crown in his two previous starts, Indy Point raced close to the early pace and burst to the lead in the stretch. But he could not repel hard-charging Going Somewhere, who surged in the final strides to secure the victory.
Steinbruck, who recently returned to South America following a trip to Lexington, where he was scouting out farms from which to race and breed, enjoyed Going Somewhere’s Pellegrini win after just missing a victory in the race in 1997 with homebred Quari Bravo, who was the runner-up. Quari Bravo was Brazil’s Horse of the Year in 1998.
Going Somewhere is out of the Special Nash mare Angel Star. His sire, Sulamani, is based in England at David and Teresa Futter’s Yorton Stud Farm in Shropshire.
The 13-year-old son of Hernando, a half brother to European champion Dream Well, was a grade or group I winner in four different nations and began his stud career in 2005 for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket. He began shuttling to Brazil in 2007 to stand under a lease agreement with Silvio Crespi's Haras Calunga in Sao Paulo.
Standing in England as a dual purpose stallion since 2011, Sulamani’s 2013 fee at Yorton Stud is set at 2,500 British pounds. From five crops of racing age, his top runners among nine stakes winners include English multiple European group I winner Mastery, who was an English classic winner; and Brazilian group I winners Invictus and Concilium.