Psychic Flame scores Guineas double
By Aalibaba
aalibaba@indiarace.comKolkata, December 6, 2003
The Razeen-Eminence daughter Psychic Flame kept her date with the history when she made a dent in the male bation to win the Calcutta 2,000 Guineas on Saturday. With Calcutta 1,000 Guineas already in her bag, the Darius Byramji-trainee may now be eyeing for the Derby in the first week of January 2004.
UInlike her 1,000 Guineas start, Psychic Flame was always kept in a striking poisition by her jcokey C. Alford as her stable-mate Actuary tired to make the pace hot upfront. The even-money favourite 'Flame' followed Aretino at a safe distance behind and thus giving Alford the choice as to when to time his challenge, as the 2-1 second-favourite Red Chieftan was being ridden off the pace.
Psychic Falem made her move only nearing the home turn when Actuary gave the tiring signal. It was C. Rajendra on the 5-1 shot who made the first move and shot into a two-length lead but Psychic Flame was quick to range alongside. However, the favourite was always travelling the beter of the two and after a brief duel she triumphed comfortably by half-a-length.
Red Chief never shaped as a danger at any stage of the race and the Razeen-Rhien Jewel son plodded on to place a faraweay third, About four lengths behind. In fact, it was the late finishing Devil's Own who nearly caught Red Chief and his jockey B.Prakash napping.The two were sepatrated at the wire by only a shade under a length.
The afternoon was packed with trophy events -- a total of five in the seven-event race-card. Daniel David's Primaticcio lifted the first trophy on offer, the 2,000-metre Tug Of War Cup. The fact that the four-year-old was well in at the weights but he has not been showing his winning form in the past few months, the older duo of Archery and Andreyev-- from Vijay Singh's yard, became the rage in the bettingv ring. Amyn Merchant, atop the Don't Forget Me-Priceless Moment gelding -- owned by Dr MAM Ramaswamy, had, however, different ideas. Merchant allowed the owner-mate and the lowly weighted Midas Touch a handsome lead till the home turn and pounced on the leader in the last furlong to record a neck victory. The two favourite with, their topweights, were clearly no match fror other two.
Compassionate, the small-made filly despite her topweight of 60-kg returned an effortless winner of the 1,600-metre Amrit Bhushan Gujral Memorial Cup. Coming slowly out of the gate, the Tirol-Compassion daughter trailed the field early in the race but joined the field nearing the 1,000 metre marker. However, from this pooint, the Javed Khan-trainee went on to gain in strength and was seen second at the final turn before shooting into the lead. Once in front, jockey Mark Reuben failed to check the filly's acceleration, therefore, she was separated from the second placed Loveisblind by eight long lengths.
Earlier in the afternoon, in the 1,200m Punters Delight Handicap, Javed's Prime Contender had cashed in on her winning form to put the jockey-trainer combinations on a double trail.
Reminiscent's victory in the 1,200-metre HongKong Jockey Club Cup was a thriller. C. Rajendra who partnered the Vijay Singh-trained filly, was a delight to watch when he had a narrow measure of Calorific -- the stable-mate of the winner -- ridden by C. Alford. The two horses remained engaed in a close tussle right through the last furlong and it was the sheer jockey-power that gained the day, though Calorific enjoyed the advantage till the last stride. Shimmering River, who led all the way till the distance-post, was a notable third.
The Burdwan Memorial Cup, over 1,600 metres was claimed by Hamilton far more easily compared to his last victory. The Darius Byramji-ward trailed the filed ttill the final tutn before coming with menacing run in the home-stretch to retire a three-length winner in the hands of M. Poirier.
Darius' Small Fry and her rider Rajendra were, however, fully tested to lift the Voluntary Handicap. Trying to do a Hamilton, the Conquering Hero-Chain Reaction three-year-old nearly lost the race after she was gifted with a narrow galloping passage along the rails for her to shoot through.
