Her poor display on the track was indeed baffling for the keen students of form. She came to Mahalaxmi recently and ran like a dud. She was, not surprisingly, ignored as Dedication, Ardmore, Agha and Cabbala seemed to have better prospects or so it was thought until Silken Star decided to put her best foot forward. Even Ramaswamy and Ganapathy would’ve been pleasantly surprised when Nirmal Jodha tackled Agha at the distance post and stretched away from the field.
Dedication was ridden off the pace but was unable to launch his assault. Cabbala, who was making her first appearance after a reported setback, was in the vanguard till the turn and retired gracefully from the fray thereafter. Some Western India Trainers voiced their concern over the fast nature of the racetrack after debutant Petronella clocked a record time for the Capital Risk Plate run over 1100mts. The daughter of Conquering Hero out of Truffa, saddled by Cooji Katrak and
ridden by Irishman Niall McCullagh, was quickly off from the barriers and showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals including the bred-in-purple filly Haunting Memories. The latter shared favouritism with the winner but was simply outpaced in the race. Having said that, it needs to be pointed out that Haunting Memories was getting stronger at the finish and will surely make amends for this failure in the near future.
Ganapathy completed a fine double when Fabulous Emperor (Steinbeck - God’s Grace) unveiled a stunning debut performance to claim the Tulipa Trophy. With little over a furlong to go for the wire, B. Prakash astride Fabulous Emperor found himself blocked by Peoria when trying to take a shortcut. Unfazed by this hurdle, a quick thought process shown by Prakash saved Fabulous Emperor from disgrace. The bay gelding went like a missile towards the winning post when Prakash
pulled him out to race four horses off the fence. Nimble Feet, Xian and Accessible followed the winner home.
Hormuz Antia trained colt Blazing Speed (Dark Nile - Wonderful Babe) registered an encore and won warding off the stubborn challenge posed by Last’n Impression and Mister Fixit. Last’n Impression tried to wrest the race in the Stewards’ Room but Pramod Belose’s protest against rookie L. Prashant was overruled by the Stewards. In hindsight, it can be said that had Belose not switched lanes, he might’ve got a favourable verdict.
Imtiaz Sait trained Cosmos (Placerville - Cosmic Energy) was ridden confidently by C. Alford as the four-year-old filly shook off the fancied duo Vrikodara and Acerenzza close home and reached the safety of the winning post before
Tarragona could topple her.
The three-year-old filly Bikini Bomb (Concordial - Windswift) was tuned to perfection by young Asad Ali which helped her move out from the company of the maidens. The Cyrille Stefan ridden Bikini Bomb proved far too superior for the field which, except for runner-up Attia In Sunlight, hardly showed any interest in the proceedings. P.S.Chouhan piloted Silent Spectator ran true to his name and those who fancied him saw the writing on the wall when the odds against him went
"out of control" in the betting ring.
Sangramsingh Joshi nurtured aged gelding Teaser (Portroe – Minisky) earned his corn bill when Nirmal Jodha steered him to register a narrow victory over Truth Prevails. Favourite Magic Spell ran way down the field.
Douglas (Batzushka – Sushannah) also surprised when Amyn Merchant drove the Faisal Abbas trainee with purpose and escaped the clutches of Zephyrella, who warmed up late as usual. The Imtiaz Sait trainee Spade of Ace went
out as the favourite but failed to raise hopes of an imminent victory at any stage of the race.
