KUNIGAL BRED HORSES TO THE FORE; SIX SPEED, ALLOCATED KEEP TRYST WITH DESTINY

Allocated (Pesi Shroff up) winning the Kingfisher Colts Trial Stakes on Sunday (June 18)

Six Speed (Pesi Shroff up), winner of the Kingfisher Fillies Trial Stakes, the first classic of the Bangalore Summer Season, being led in by Mr & Mrs Vijay Mallya and trainer Darius Byramji.

Blushing Heart (Aslam Kader astride), winner of the His Majesty Plate (Div II) being led in by owner Deepak Khaitan (right) and trainer S Padmanabhan

Carnival Craze (veteran Sinclair Marshall up), winner of the Justice Medappa Memorial Cup (Div II), being led in by owner V Ramani (right) and trainer Harish Puri.

Click here to view video of Mr.Vijaya Mallya's interview on Six Speed

SIX SPEED  proved too classy for the opposition in the Kingfisher Fillies Trial Stakes while Allocated was good enough to keep the opposition at a safe distance in the Colts Trial Stakes, the first two classics of the Bangalore Summer Season, held over the week-end. More than the performance of these two talented three-year olds, the talking point of the week was the cen per cent record achieved by beer baron Vijay Mallya. He had  horses running  in seven horses and he had the privilege of leading in the winners in all these races! Quite an incredible record indeed.

Apart from the wins in the two classics, what must have delighted him more than anything else is the performance of the  Kunigal Stud Farm bred horses,   with five of the seven winners coming from there. The Kunigal Stud Farm which was rotting before Mallya took over  from the Bangalore Turf Club a few years ago, has shown a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, with the first of the stars to come out from the refurbished stud farm being the all-conquering Saddle Up who is now on his way to Malaysia.

The style of Darius Byramji trained Six Speed's win in the Knock Out trophy suggested that she would prove too good to the opposition in the Fillies classic. She  proved her mettle, with a comfortable win over the late-finishing Padmanabhan trained Access All Areas  but champion jockey Pesi Shroff who guided her was not too pleased with the performance. ``I had expected a much better performance,'' he said.

Six Speed was settled in the mid-group unlike in her previous runs when she ran upfront and the Placerville-Haunting Beauty filly came through with a strong run inside the final 350 metres to win by a comfortable margin. Access All Areas finished on strongly, her style of running suggesting that the big made filly would relish a more staying trip. There was a blanket finish for the third spot, with Bountiful Gesture edging out Altimara and Starry Scene for that position.

Jockey Shroff believes that the filly has the class to get extended trips though there are many who believe the filly will find it tough to assert herself over longer trips. The Derby to be held next month will  be a pointer but horses in the past,  which showed blinding speed like Six Speed have gone on win over 2400 metres by their  sheer class.

Access All Areas' performance was eye-catching as she showed a big improvement and she was promptly put up by 14 kgs by the handicapper. Altimara's fourth too was an improvement. Among the beaten brigade, the one to impress was Complimentary who finished a close seventh, less than fourth lengths behind the third placed Bountiful Gesture. Since the handicapper penalises only the first three placed horses, Complimentary who would have otherwise been put up by seven kgs, was left without any revision in the rating. Should Complimentary were to run in a handicap race, she would run with a tremendous advantage.

The highly rated Soviet Park who had a training setback which delayed his initiation into racing, had it easy in the lower division of the Red Divine Plate, a terms race for three-year olds. The Bold Russian-Loren's Baby colt Soviet Park was blazing the track  during winter before he broke down after a brilliant work-out. Now that he has recovered well, his progress will be of tremendous interest. Forest Boy and Alsheim finished faraway second and third respectively. The upper division of the race went to Screen Play who was backed down strongly in the betting ring. Autarky who was strongly favoured to win, was a poor third as Screen Play, with a powerful run in the straight, went clear of Three Coins who too support from public in equal measure. Autarky who is letting down for the second time in a row, does not seem to be a reliable type.

Sea Classic had narrowly missed collaring Starry Scene in his last run. But with Pesi Shroff riding Crystal Man more because he could make the weight for riding Sea Classic, the former was fancied more than the latter in the betting ring. In the event, Sea Classic who traveled upfront, surged ahead inside the final 350 metres and won by a widening margin of over five lengths over Bank Balance, with Crystal Man plodding on to be a disappointing third.

Loknath Gowda's Decision Maker who had an eye-catching second to Empress of India, won guided home with confidence by apprentice P Ramesh in the lower division of the Diablo Plate, with favourites Forest Pegasus and Lunar Ray giving a poor account of themselves. While Forest Pegasus led from the word `go' to lose the advantage inside the final 100 metres, Lunar Ray was never in the hunt. Squeeze finished on strongly to finish third.  The upper division of the race saw another of Darashah ward Cavala being backed to the exclusion of the rest but Silver Hope who was not ridden to advantage last time out, overcame a series of traffic problems to pip Cavala close home.

The Mauritius Pearl Plate, a race for horses rated 0 to 15, was won by  Pradeep Annaiah trained The Ghost who finally displayed his true potential after being held back thus far. Michael Eshwer's Boss Tweed who did all the front-running, threatened to upset but The Ghost's finishing burst put paid to his pretensions.

ALLOCATED's win in the Kingfisher Colts Stakes on Sunday was taken for granted. There was none in the field who had done anything of note to be considered favourably.  Though jockey Pesi Shroff had expressed apprehensions about the gelding getting the mile long trip, the Placerville progeny tackled the distance well while staving off the challenge of Calcutta challenger Affliction by two lengths.

After guiding Allocated for a comfortable win to record a Classic double, Shroff said that Six Speed was undoubtedly the better of the two and that he had no doubt about the filly staying well over extended trips than the gelding.

Allocated was kept in a handy position as Il Diablo and Strides of Fire ran upfront, with Axe, Assertive Allies, Far Excellence and the rest racing in close attendance in the rear bunch. Il Diablo brought the field into view, with Strides of Fire close on his heels. Strides of Fire took over the running and led for a brief while before being passed by the eventual winner. Jockey Ravinder Singh failed to pack punch in his finishing efforts on Strides of Fire as three horses swooped on him. Affliction was ahead of Axe by a whisker while Strides of Fire was a close fourth. Axe's run from behind was eye-catching while Affliction, despite this improved performance, does not stay extended trips, feels jockey Aslam Kader who guided the Calcutta colt.

Padmanabhan trained Blushing Heart who is a full sister to the celebrated Congratulations, made a winning debut in the lower division of  His Majesty Plate at the expense of Appeaser who finished on with a flourish. Blushing Heart ran green  but nevertheless considering her bloodline, she has plenty of scope for improvement.

The upper division of the race saw Soviet Lake poke through the gap between Silvano and favourite Altenburg to record a facile win. Soviet Lake who was the only horse of the Vijay Mallya brigade who was not strongly fancied to win, showed guts while taking the gap and considering the style of win, should go far. Altenburg belied the expectations based on his blazing track work while Areezzo's third is one for the notebook. Silvano was a close fourth.

Soviet Dance was a trifle unlucky to lose to The Music Man in his last run in winter. Now backed to the exclusion of his rivals, Soviet Dance won by a widening margin of over four lengths over Gypsie's Wish and Royal Debut who found foot late.

There was a big upset in the upper division of the Justice P Medappa Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 20 to 35. Spirito who was totally ignored in the betting ring, won impressively at the expense of more fancied Ambermatic and Xar. Xar in fact found the six furlong trip sharp and started to accelerate when the race was well sewn up by Spirito. The lower division of the race went the way of  Harish Puri's Carnival Craze who staved off the challenge of the front-running Golden Carp and the late-finishing Pearl Crown. Favourite Alumina was a disappointing third and jockey Aslam Kader reckons that the filly is unreliable type.

Darius Byramji trained Arikana showed  a remarkable turn of foot while winning the 1400 metres Rajah S R K Ranga Row Memorial Trophy. With Alphabetic having stolen a march over the rest and stalemate Baffin Bay ahead of Arikana who was stuck on the rails, the followers of the favourite had lost hope. However, once Aslam Kader shifted his mount on the outside, the response from the Twist And Turn progeny was electrifying. Arikana passed the front-running Alphabetic, much to the relief of the the   punters who had placed big faith in the filly. Arikana's finishing burst reminded one of the well-performed Ahu.

There was a smart coup on Santosh Rao's Grisogono in the Elusive Pimpernel Plate, a race for horses rated 10 to 25. With fancied runners Actress and My Dashing Lady struggling in the rear, Grisogono, in the hands of veteran jockey Warren Singh, came through with a powerful stretch run to win from late-finishing Andestine and Beauty Castle who showed up prominently at the top of the straight. 

WINNING IS A MATTER OF GOOD BREATHING

What strikes one about the Vijay Mallya owned horses these days is the `Stripper'  (the nasal strip, highlighted  in the picture of Six Speed placed above) that his horses sport.

With Mallya and his team always looking to get their wards to perform at their peak, the success of the Stripper in the USA has prompted the UB Racing and Bloddstock  Ltd horses to sport this novel equipment to aid the performances of the horses owned by them.  Six Speed, Sans Egale and Allocated are some of the horses which have sported this equipment. The Stripper is not yet used by the other trainers in India but the success of the equipment and its availability is sure to make the Stripper a popular one with the other trainers.

The idea of using a stripper originated with D Wayne Lukas, thoroughbred's leading trainer in the US who is known for always trying to get a competitive edge.  Modeled on the beige strips worn by human athletes, the equine version is intended to hold open a horse's elongated nasal passage and ease breathing. The main difference is that the 4-by-6-inch horse bandage, sold under the brand name Flair, would cover about a human's face.

Lukas acknowledges that there's mainly anecdotal evidence that the strips help, but he has several million dollars' worth of reasons for believing in them.

The strips which sell for $ 10 each, have not yet been used extensively. Says one of the leading trainers in the US: ``It probably works better when the horse is doing well.''

The explanation that would support the Flair is that the nasal passages constrict during exertion and the resulting laboured breathing puts a strain on the lungs that causes bleeding. Among the unsavory solutions used to help breathing were nose rings placed on each nostril and tied down with a shoelace to hold the nostrils open.

Only one scientific study has been conducted thus far. Veterinarians at Kansas State University, concluded that the ``nasal strip appears to reduce airway resistance'' and bleeding. The horses in the study used less oxygen and bled 33 % less.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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