Consequently it was left to Wild Vegas (Storm Trooper – Mindset) and Vindication to fight it out for the spoils. Apprentice Anil Baandal showed tremendous confidence astride the Narendra Lagad trainee as he blunted the attack of Vindication, who found the trip a trifle sharp for her liking.
Taking a cue from Star Strike’s failure, it needs to be mentioned here that the recent results since New Year’s Day have distressed the students of form. They hope that this is not part of a pattern that indicates the worse. The apprehensions are a natural outcome of several results, e.g. Dancing Image – Aldeburgh, Rivaaz – Master Planner, Crystal Queen - Degas followed by Queen’s Image – Trojan King, Naval Academy – Opium and finally Amadomio – Clas.
There has been a spate of failures involving favourites since the new administration has taken charge at the RWITC and racegoers expect that actions should speak louder than words and the authorities need to pay more attention as far as vigilance in regulating the sport is concerned.
Trojan King bled through the nostrils and it was left to Neeraj Rawal driven Queen’s Special (Concordial – Queen’s Lake), from the pack of three sent out by Magansingh Jodha, to bring home the bacon over the Derby trip. Jodha led in another winner over an identical distance when La Tremolo (Glory of Dancer – Leap of the Mind) resisted the advances of favourite Tracy to overhaul him in the straight. The Pramod Belose ridden winner had no recent form to go by but the decision to discard blinkers and the extended journey seemed to have favoured her.
Asad Siddique’s labour of love bore fruits when Samarkhand (Greensmith – Anthalia) got stronger at the finish and stop both Nectar Jewel and See The Truth in their tracks as they were eyeing the top slot. Zroom lost considerable ground as he reared up when the gates opened and never recovered from that lapse.
Summeroffortytwo (Cruachan – Brigette) once again proved to be the bread-and-butter for veteran trainer Janardhan, who pulled off a nice coup by entrusting his aged ward in the hands of T. Mahesh. Favourite Verzzano with Malesh in saddle couldn’t dislodge the winner who scrambled home following a minor scuffle with Sweet Success and Turf Crown. There were hardly any “jobbers” identified in this race.
The use of a Kinetic Nose Band came in handy for Hosidar Daji’s horse Naval Academy (Tecorno – River of Dreams) so much so that he erased the miserable performance given on 2000 Guineas day when he was ridden by Martin Dwyer and was a firm favourite to win. Naval Academy literally flew in the home stretch when Malcolm Kharadi alerted him and went surging past favourite Opium, who ran a lacklustre second.
C. Rajendra ridden Jubilation bit dust once again as So Perfect (Burden of Proof – Seven Hearts) rallied in the hands of C. Ruzaan and wore down Portal of Victory in a ding-dong battle close home. Ruzaan was returning after his fall from grace in the eyes of his mentor Pesi Shroff during the Pune season and was visibly ecstatic to ride a winner for him. Jubilation ran criss-cross and what made Rajendra switch lanes in the last two furlongs of the race remains unknown. Jubilation ran a tame fourth behind Mustang Sally, who gave an encouraging performance.
Amadomio (Sir Bruce – Dance Move) celebrated his demotion with a victory but received a major scare from bottom-weighted Speed Sachet, who came tantalisingly close to winning the race. S. N. Chavan’s solid experience as opposed to Vikram Walkar came in handy for the Lagad, who had a satisfying day having saddled a profitable brace. Naill McCullagh had a solitary engagement during the day atop favourite Clas but the Shiraz Sunderji ward never looked threatening at any stage despite finishing a close fourth.
