Though Southern Empire had lost to Holding Court in his last outing,
race goers continued to repose their faith in the former and made him
the firm favourite. With the benefit of a race run and in
receipt of two kgs from Holding Court, Southern Empire surely had every chance to turn the tables on his conqueror. But everything depended on the way the race was run.
Multi-graded race winner Secret Memory took over the job of setting the pace and did an excellent job of slowing down the pace completely so much so that the running of the race was bound to benefit Southern Empire who is endowed with a better turn of foot. Holding Court raced in second position with Southern Empire in third along with Charlie Brown and the rest. Flashing Star, who has gone sour, once again lost ground at the start and was not an
active participant in the race.
Approaching the final bend, the pace slightly quickened with Secret
Memory still enjoying a lead of a few lengths over his pursuers. Jockey Mark Zahra on Holding Court quickly made his move and surged ahead of the front-runner even as Prakash on Southern Empire got busy. Holding Court went into lead but Southern Empire steadily bridged the gap and passed the
front-runner in the shadow of the post to win by half a length. The winner clocked a modest time of
2minutes 20.67 seconds for the 11 furlong trip.
There is nothing much to choose between the two champions. It is quite possible that each of their encounters can produce a different result depending on the way the race is run. But one thing is clear: At level weights, Holding Court should prove better than Southern Empire. It is the weight difference which stood between victory and defeat for Holding Court.
Secret Memory who ran third is no mean performer and the son of Diffident who showed
out in the paddock parade will get his due when these two champions are not in the fray.
Padmanabhan trained Lady One was the most impressive winner of the day. The four-year old
daughter of Placerville out of Lady Moura has been a late bloomer as problems in the early part delayed her debut. She recorded her third win in tremendous fashion, leading the field from the word `go’ and then going clear in the final furlong to win in an excellent timing of
1 minute 13.7 seconds on a day when timings were relatively slow due to soft underfoot conditions. Fantabulous Prince came from behind to finish a noteworthy second ahead of Sugar Blaze.
Imtiaz Sait trained Almandine who was running after a long lay off, was made the firm favourite to win the 1800 metres Nawab Sultan Ali Khan Memorial Trophy. One problem or the other kept the daughter of Razeen away from the track and during this time, the owners were even toying with the idea of retiring her but the trainer was insistent on keeping her going. Almandine had shown some sparkle after coming to Bangalore from Mumbai and had been blazing the track. However, the lack of a race run went against her as he finished on strongly when The Force had the race in his safe keeping by taking charge in the final 100 metres. Abide Proven edge out Algiers for the third, with a nose, neck and neck separating the second, third and fourth placed horses.
Associator had gone down fighting to In The Zone in his last outing and the latter had gone on to win again. As such, the chances of Associator coming out of the maidens’ ranks became bright in the Smart Chieftain Trophy (Div I). However, the speedy Milford went into the lead from the start and then held on gamely to win over the favourite who was clearly
crying for more ground. Mangalya Prarambh showed some improvement by finishing third. The lower division of the race went the way of Needofthehour who despite drifting out in the closing stages of the race, had enough ammunition to win with comfort. Ten Downing Street finished on strongly taking the runner up berth.
Crocodile Hunter had recorded a win when he looked far from ready. Now taking on modest opposition in the Young Rajput Plate (Div I), the Hyderabad challenger had only Habituated as the worthwhile opponent. The latter looked poor in the paddock and ran true to his looks. Jockey Mark Zahra kept Crocodile Hunter well in control in the front and had him stretch out in the final 300 metres to win by a decisive margin. Precious Angel was a faraway second ahead of Royal Hero.
Magical Spirit had come down considerably in scales and looked set to resume his winning ways in the Brig R C Hill Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 40 to 70. The moody customer, who always used to be sluggish at the start, had changed his habits after the blinkers were removed. Magical Spirit came out of the gates well and held a forward position and then went on to win from Cascabel. Forza ran on to be third and he can make his mark at Mysore.
In the day’s other action, Sporting Master had no worthwhile opposition to win the 1200 metres maidens plate while Fighting Star won in equally emphatic fashion over seven furlongs, dictating the proceedings right through the start to spare a distance at the finish to a struggling Hari Har
Priya.
