Conditions were
far from ideal for racing on Thursday as continuous rains during
the preceding days and during the races ensuring that the going
was far from ideal. Form held good in most races but the
race-goers were floored by the wins of outsiders like Beverley
Bay, Spark of Life and Winelight. However, the wins of the
last two named horses of Mohan Valavi were not exactly
unexpected as they only confirmed to a pattern.
Aslam finally
struck a winning combination with the much-maligned Arrakis.
Once rated by the jockey as being as good as the great Elusive
Pimpernel, Arrakis had tasted defeat at cramped prices when
Aslam was astride. Subsequently, the connections of the horse
took their frustration on Arrakis when he did not prove to be a
classic horse, using him as a pace-maker and blaming the defeat
of the well bred on everybody including the horse except on
their shortcoming. As if to prove his mentors who had condemned
him as being ungenuine wrong, Arrakis showed what he is capable
of when allowed to perform to potential late in winter with a
brilliant win. He then recorded a comfortable win in his last
essay earlier in the season and accomplished the hat trick with
a resolute win in the 1400 metres K N Chennabasappa Memorial
Cup, a race for horses rated 40 and above which featured a
tiring day’s card of 13 events.
Though Aslam
did not give a smooth ride to Arrakis, going for the whip more
than was required, the Steinbeck progeny showed resolve when
getting the better of front-running Resist The Force and the
late-finishing Valparaiso. Aslam had to cough up Rs 3000 for
excessive use of the whip. The fine became more than normally
imposed as the Stipes had found him guilty of a similar offence
in the day when astride Attune who won the Mystic Memory Plate
(Div II). Attune covered lot of ground along the rails to win
the event in taking style from Shining Knight but ended up
paying Rs 1,000 as a fine for improper use of the whip.
Favourite Priceless Coral ran like dud.
In the division
III of the same race, Aslam made amends with Arzillo. The Sir
Bruce progeny had all his chances last time out by being tardy
at the gates. This time out, Arzillo bolted to the front and had
just that much of a lead to hold on from a late-finishing Forest
Monarch who covered lot of ground on the front-runner.
The division of
the Mystic Memory Plate went the way of Misty Charms who won at
nourishing odds. The Santosh Rao trainee had the credentials,
having finished behind Star Cavalier in her last run but with
the duo of Blue Gardenia and Street Smart collaring all the
support, Misty Charms was allowed to run loose at longer odds.
The favoured pair of Blue Gardenia and Street Smart ran like
duds, confirming the belief that something is amiss with them as
they have not justified the expectations on many a time.
Trainer S
Ganapathy who is all set to win the trainers championship for
the second season running, consolidated the lead further when
Purple Princess and Southern Host won their respective races
with a measure of comfort. Both these races were held in pouring
rain, with visibility being at a premium. However, Prakash, the
jockey of the moment, had no problems either with the conditions
or with the opposition when driving out these horses to victory
in difficult underfoot conditions.
With there
being a rush of entries of horses who had to complete two runs
or pay up stabling charges, many races were divided. Southern
Host took the upper division of the Malakpet Stakes for the
lowest rated hores quite competently while lesser-fancied
Goebbels had it easy in the second division.
Governor’s
Cup winner in winter Purple Princess won the upper division of
the Maj Newton Davis Memorial Cup quite easily while Malesh
Narredu had to drive out Iflookscouldkill in the lower division
to emerge the better of Ampersand and Arristo in the lower
division. Narredu pushed Iflookscouldkill through the center to
get the verdict in the shadow of the winning post.
However,
Narredu was not so lucky on Padmanabhan trained Dream Supreme.
The duo that had won their last race on June 17 on Strides of
Fire, had run into bad luck, with nothing going right for them.
Dream Supreme was to be ridden by jockey Pesi Shroff but with
the champion held up at Mumbai, Malesh replaced him. Dream
Supreme was taken on a start to finish mission and the Shareef
Dancer progeny led almost every inch of the 2200 metres trip
except the crucial one that mattered the most. The power-packed
finish of Aslam Kader enabled Aveyron clinched the issue by the
shortest of short heads. Padmanabhan who has had the best strike
rate in recent years, may well be praying for ways to get out of
the frustrating period which has certainly hit him hard this
season.