Irfan Ghatala's ward My Turn was able to get up in the last few strides and
annex The Karnataka Police Trophy, the feature event in Saturday's races held
at Bangalore. This astute trainer has to be complimented for his fine
understanding of the tight handicapping system that prevails at the BTC. He
never misses an opportunity to claim an allowance on his charges and he
continued to do so by declaring Vinod Shinde to ride My Turn in the highest
class. With 5 kgs off its back, My Turn ran with a realistic chance of
landing the spoils in this race. It must be mentioned that this young
apprentice boy is the son of the famous Vasant Shinde, and seems to be
fairly mature for his age. He rides with fine balance and stays calm in
tight situations. My Turn gave him his fifth winner in his short career.
There were only six runners to face the starter with Dare Don and Stone of
Destiny sharing the favoritism ahead of My Turn and Fantabulous Prince. The
speedy Heroism took them along at a fair pace followed by Dare Don, My Turn
and Fantabulous Prince. Stone of Destiny and Big B were slightly slowly off
at the gates and were seen being pushed in the early stages to keep pace
with the horses in front of them. Dare Don took over in the straight and led
by a couple of lengths at the distance post. At that stage, My Turn being
ridden hands and heels by the whip less apprentice and Fantabulous Prince
with Appu in the saddle started gaining ground on the front runner. A few
meters to go and all three were in a line, before Vinod Shinde was able to
push his ward to the front and was able to nose out Fantabulous Prince at
the all important end. It was a fine finish to an exciting race.
The added attraction in the day’s card was The Gangavathi Trophy for 2 year
olds, and was split into two divisions. In the upper division, trainer
Dominic's Reflection of Gold was the firm favorite on the basis of having
run third in her earlier start. In fact, she was the only one in the field
to have had a run, and was obviously looking the fittest in the parade ring.
She took off smartly from the gates and was hotly chased by Sunny Baba,
Royal Chief and Royal Amber. Reflection of Gold quickened well in the
straight and held on to win from a fast finishing Royal Amber and Super Sha.
Both the beaten horses should benefit from this run and would be worth
following in their future engagements. The lower division was won by the P S
Chouhan ridden Spark of Isis, who went on a start to finish mission and won
from the favorite Spiritofexcellence and Glorious Princess. All the runners
in this race looked extremely ordinary in the paddock and may find it
difficult to win in the near future.
A lot of money went down on the speedy Marianella who was expected to
out sprint her rivals in a 1100 meters scurry event. Long priced Movie Queen
came with raking strides to overtake the front running trio of Living Free,
Smart n Special and Born Beauty in the last furlong. She held on to win from
rank outsider Simply Dangerous.Irfan's Marianella reportedly burst her blood
vessels in the race. However Irfan Ghatala's supporters were soon
compensated when his 10/1 shot Rapido Gonzales emerged as the most
impressive winner of the day, in a mile event for horses in class III. In an
open betting event, apprentice Selvaraj settled Rapido Gonzales in mid bunch
and moved up on the wide outside when they swung into the homestretch. It
ceased to be a race thereafter and he won by a widening margin from a hard
ridden Badge of Honour and Cascabel. Joint favourites Pillar of Gold and
Hold That Tiger finished in the ruck.
The last race saw quite a few horses being backed by their connections after
the withdrawal of the morning on-money favourite Raider's Sun. Arshad trained
Prarambh, Astounding Blue, Needofthehour and Graphic Design in close
attendance. Astounding Blue opened up a clear lead in the straight but was
soon headed by Graphic Design. Favourite Sunnyland was seen struggling in
mid bunch, as Mangalya Prarambh came with giant strides through the middle
and sped away to win from a late finishing Cimmaron and a tiring Graphic
Design. The rest were outclassed.
Star News and Wile Wench won the other two races in the day’s card. The
trainer jockey combination of B Puttanna and Jagadeesh were associated with
a fancy priced double and shared the day’s honors with Irfan Ghatala.
