Hesperus went into the race as an on-money favourite, with Romantic Fire
being next in demand. With the pace of the race being slow and nobody
keen to hit the front, Appu decided to make his own running,
with Polar Force racing in close attendance ahead of Romantic Fire. The
order, however did not remain unchanged, as the well performed Attorney
came up with a late run to snatch the runner up spot from Polar Force,
pushing Romantic Fire to fourth. Now that the handicap
exploitation is almost over, Hesperus can be ambitiously targeted in
terms races.
There was great deal of hype on Divine Lumiere who was considered a
classic type despite a pathetic debut run. The well bred
daughter of Divine Light was in hopeless chase of Aristotle in her debut,
where the former had toyed with the opposition. Now running in the
Dupont Plate (Div.I), Divine Lumiere was considered unbeatable and she
went into the race as the shortest priced horse of the season. Seis
Corona who had run second best on six occasions before losing her
chances at the gate on the seventh occasion, had showed out in a
mock race and she ran to that form, having the race in her control from
the start. Divine Lumiere chased the front-runner but at no stage of the
race was the front runner threatened. Dr.Vijay Mallya’s colors were also
prominent in the lower division where Cedros, with one run under his belt,
had the race in his grasp from the start, with Ardennes in hopeless
pursuit.
Smart N Unique won the A Raoof Sait Memorial Plate (Div.I) at nourishing
odds. Estrella and Priceless Memories were the market fancies but there
was inspired support for Smart N Unique as race time approached. In the
event, Priceless Memories was baulked for an opening along the rails
while Smart N Unique who powered his way on the wide outside managed to
hang to the lead as Fort Knox came with a flourish at him. Jockey Rajesh
who has lost his enthusiasm and zest for riding, did not position Fort
Knox favourably in the early part of the race and as a result, the
daughter of Glory of Dancer had too much leeway to cover and yet she
managed to reduce it to just half a length. Rajesh was suspended for two
race days for riding an ill-judged race. Padmanabhan who missed out on
Fort Knox, however, had success in the lower division where Rafaga,
running after a setback kept her out of action for a considerable period
of time, bounced to top form, winning the race from the word `go’ at the
expense of a late-finishing Oprah and Glorious Spirit. Considering the
fact that Rafaga won the race when she was far from the ready, she
should progress on the scales swiftly. The well bred daughter of
Placerville is out of Southern Regent’s sister and her progress at
Mysore can be followed profitably. Favourite Shaolin who was once rated
as classic material, turned out to be a dud, finishing off the frame.
Two incidents marred the day’s proceedings and it happened in both the
divisions of Tokyo Plate. Maharani was strongly backed to win the upper
division of the race but the starter dispatched the field even as jockey Prithviraj was trying to settle his horse with the help of a handler
causing the jockey to fall soon after the jump out. Breeze Dancer made a
profitable start to finish dash to win from Ikon Brown and Copper Sky.
In the lower division of the race, Star of Treasure was backed to the
exclusion of his rivals but the favourite reportedly suffered a stifle
lock within 100 metres of the start and stopped galloping. One First was
the beneficiary of the mishap for the favourite.
In the day’s other action, Star Hopeful recorded an encore over a mile
and half trip while Tina’s Triumph had his reward coming after a
frustrating wait. Tina’s Triumph, who had lost by a whisker to Golden
Rain, came through along the rails to get the measure of Step On the Gas
and favourite On The Trail who once again disappointed.
