Chisty goes kindly for Chill Pill
By Aalibaba (indiathoroughbreds@hotmail.com)

Kolkata
April 2, 2007

Chill Pill’s victory was long overdue, therefore, it hardly came as a surprise when the Sanjeev Charan trained mare scored a near three-length win over Daniel David’s favourite Ecstatic Pride in the 1200m Gavin Johnston Cup. The winner, a six-year-old, had been making her presence felt in the higher setup since the monsoon season. However, his victory was made easy by the rider of Ecstatic Pride, Imran Chisty. The RCTC Stewards felt that Chisty had not persevered with his mount until the final stages of the race by which time it was too late and handed him a two day suspension.

Ecstatic Pride was held back in fifth while Chill Pill chased Aptitude and Exclusive Affair on the wide out till the final turn. Chill Pill (M Reuben up) went further wide at the bend but zoomed into a three-length lead in a trice. Chisty, on his part, never showed an urgency to improve position till nearing the distance-post. True, a momentary hesitation in the last furlong when deciding whether to switch in, or go to the outside of Exclusive Virtue, may have cost Chisty some ground but that was insignificant considering Chill Pill’s command over the field at that point of time.

The champion jockey drew a blank in the afternoon’s seven-event card. In the 1400m Southline Handicap, his ride Solar Flacon lost a double distance at the start. However, the expanding odds, from 6-4 to 4-1, of the Daniel David-trainee had clearly indicated that the horse was not in the race. Nevertheless, Javed Khan’s Rosenkavalier posted an upset victory in the race. The Mumbai-migrant made his first serious bid to win and succeeded in the hands of Md. Islam.

Chisty’s tactics in the Bold Gesture Plate did not pay off either. He had his fancied runner, Keep The Message, settled behind Dipak Karki’s long-shot, Racing Rumours, expecting the leader to tire. However, it never happened. The Pennine Ridge son continued with the good work having established a three-length from the start to frustrate the field, including Robin Corner’s 6-4 favourite, Elemental Wish, who just about managed to place a poor fourth. Desire Prince, despite his top-weight, was a faraway second while Keep The Message was third.

Trainer H.S. Bath’s Satluj was the only form-horse in the four-horse field vying for the Royal Challenge Handicap. However, with big-money coming in for Vikash Jaiswal’s Mishevious Notes, Satluj and Kinship found little support. Nevertheless, Sutluj and his jockey, D. Singh, dictated terms from the start and held on to win from Mischevious Notes and Kinship who piled on to the leader in the closing stages but failed to stop him from winning.

Javed Khan’s Dancing Vision, pulled off a near miraculous win after losing six lengths at the start in the Tug Of War Cup. Asmodeus led with Megillah in chase while Dancing Vision was nearly twelve lengths behind. Nearing the distance post, Asmodeus was still in command while Megillah was gaining ground and Dancing Vision was still five lengths further away. However, an electrifying run produced by the favourite in the final furlong changed the order. It was again jockey D. Singh who did the trick.

Vikash’s Shining Example scored a back-to-back win. A convincing winner, the previous day, the Bee’s Prospector son claimed the Artemis Handicap in the hands of Vinay Jaiswal.

Trainer Vijay Singh, of late, seems to have closed shop and winners are hard to come for his stable. However, his Regal Appeal made a winning debut in the 1,200m Red Chieftan Handicap. Shanker had the gelding settled in fourth behind Traditional Style, Schumacher and Vanila Glory till 300m from home and then went away for an easy win.