Winelight seen in different light
By Sharan Kumar

Mohan Valavi trained Winelight recorded a narrow win after a fairly long interval in the eventful S M Ramakrishna Rao Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 40 and above, which featured Saturday's races. More than the excitement generated by the race which saw four horses finish in close order, the decision of the Stewards to hand out Mrs Silva Storai eight days suspension for dangerous riding was the talking point. While one does sympathize with Silva who has been doing a fair job in a tough and competitive sport, the fact remains that her lack of control has often led to potentially dangerous situations. Almost every day, she has been pulled for causing interference and as one racing official put it, her acts of omissions are no longer being construed as interferences but are in the realm of dangerous riding. As such, the eight-day suspension has been with this in mind. Long ago, when Silva had her initiation in Bangalore, there were lot of restrictions as to which race she was eligible to ride and which others she was barred from because of the same reason.

``Did you see what happened to Senor Pele,'' Pesi Shroff asked at the end of the day. Yes everyone including the powers-that-be had seen it. Shroff, elaborating on the dangers of the sport, said that the reaction of the authorities thus far had been in the nature of a fire fighting exercise. ``What needs to be drilled into the jockeys is that changing course without apparent reason is not acceptable and it has to be dealt with firmly even if such a thing has not caused interference to any one. The JAI used to act tough on members causing interference by slapping hefty fines on them. Yes, something drastic needs to be done because interferences in races could affect the life and limb of the fellow professionals.''

Winelight (Suraj Narredu up) leading at 500M

Mr. Vijayendra Velu, Member of the Managing Comiittee of BTC presenting the Cup to trainer Mohan Valavi

Coming back to the race, Noble Executive who had the services of Mark Gallagher was installed the firm favourite despite the son of Placerville having been far from impressive in his last win. That was because, Mark handled Noble Executive better than Prakash and some of the best performances of the Ganapathy ward had come when he was in the saddle. Unfortunately, Noble Executive was off to a poor start and thereafter, had to cover plenty of leeway on the front-runners. He was finishing the fastest but Winelight and Al Habib had already reached the safety of the winning post. Approaching the final bend, Al Habib cut across, causing severe interference to Senor Pele who had drop back right through the field. Jockey Moses managed to stay in the saddle despite clipping Al Habib as a result. The interference also affected stablemate Soviet Bay who was making the run along the rails as he was cramped for space due to chain reaction. Winelight who had the first run on his opponents fought resolutely to win.

Michael Eshwer trained Storm Seeker won the Patrons Trophy quite easily from Super Celebrity who picked up momentum rather too late to make an impact on the result. Jimbo was the worst sufferer due to interference caused by Rajesh on Flirt With Speed who shifted in even as Appu was trying to poke his way through the rails. Fancied Jimbo dropped back to the rear of the field as a result immediately and lost all his chances. Another fancied runner, Temple Town too came a cropper due to apprentice jockey Christopher changing course repeatedly and running into other horses. He was lucky to stay in the saddle. Rounding the final bend, Prakash on Super Celebrity too came in abruptly and Temple Town was badly affected as a result. All the three jockeys involved in these skirmishes ended up paying varying amounts of fines. With none of the fancied runners living up to expectations, it was left to rank outsider Storm Seeker to profit and win the race from Super Celebrity.

Pesi Shroff himself had something of a scare on favourite Striesand in the Parsiana Plate, a sprint race for horses in the 10 to 25 category. With Appu shifting in on Hey Hero, Striesand brushed against the rails and Pesi's leg came off the stirrup but the jockey maintained his composure and regained it even though he had to come a bit wide as a result. In the meanwhile, the well-supported Lusitania had stolen a march but Striesand smoothly shot through the rails and won without much ado. Though Striesand may not be something special, the fact remains that she was a cut above the rest on the day. In the lower division of the race, Appu drove out Grey Ridge to an easy win on a day dominated by greys. Grey Eagle who was strongly backed to win never in the hunt, jockey Prakash having taken a holiday for the day. Grey Eagle was tardy at the start, circled the field as Prakash rode a patented race and was a beaten horse long before the runners were sighted in the homestretch.

Mr. S.G.Madhukar, former Chairman of BTC preseting the Cup to trainer M Eshwer

Striesand (Shroff up) winning The Parsiana Plate Div I from Lusitania (I Chisty up)

Final Round, who was blazing the track, was allowed to run at lucrative odds and the grey son of Argyle Lake had things under his control right from the word `go' and won in impressive fashion from Gypsy King. Sensitivity, who ran prominently till turning for home and finished fourth, is the one for the notebook. The lower division of the same race went the way of Samyuktaa who held off a spirited challenge of Small Fry who showed good improvement over his previous essay. David Badel, who guided Final Round to victory, was astride another winner namely Chimango. The grey daughter of Excalibur's Lake, Chimango proved too good for the opposition, winning with relative ease. Pure Cream, who was backed spiritedly, failed to measure up and was beaten fair and square by the winner. The drifting odds did not make any difference to Cool Camp who won as she pleased the Kranji Plate. The price crashed on Northern Premier but she was in mood to oblige being lethargic in her effort.