Despite knocking off his rivals in a stylish manner just a week ago not many racegoers were ready to give Lahinch a second look in this 1600-metre juvenile championship. Much of the public's attention was grabbed by Balthazar, Fabulous Emperor and to some extent by Portrush, Lahinch's stablemate.
It appeared that Balthazar would romp home when he called the bluff of the Ramaswamy brigade at the top of the home stretch. But Michael Eshwer's ward was not allowed that luxury initially by Portrush, who joined the issue with him. Balthazar tackled Portrush easily but danger was lurking close on his heels in the form of Lahinch, who had just started to warm up from the wrong end of field. In the last furlong Balthazar still held the advantage but the flourish of Lahinch left him frustrated. Lahinch was piloted confidently by C.Rajendra, who regained his moorings after a disastrous week earlier this month.
The classy juvenile filly Haunting Memories (Placerville-Haunting Beauty) was deprived a glorious outing by the poor participation of the Western India based horses in the Manjri Stud Breeders' Juvenile Fillies Championship (Gr.3). But for the the participation of Vivek Jain owned Saregama and the sponsor's filly Amazing Senorita, this event would not have seen the light of the day. The outcome of this race was not too hard to guess and the race was run for academic reasons only. The S. Ganapathy nurtured Haunting Memories made mincemeat of her three rivals and won the race without raising any sweat as was expected by all and sundry.
Dallas Todywalla trained Star Princess (Placerville-Prudent Princess) put her disappointing performance in the S.C.Jain Sprinters Cup behind her and came out with flying colours in the Madras Race Club Trophy. She came under severe threat from rookie Dashrath Singh ridden One Way but Rajendra's power-packed finish tilted the scales in favour of Star Princess. Favourite Dunbar tried to go wire-to-wire but failed miserably and faded away rapidly well before the destination arrived and ended a dismal last. Six Stars was not duly punished when she ended a close fourth behind Armament, who found the trip too sharp for his liking.
Dallas completed a good double when Rajeev Pandey driven filly Glorious Fantasy (Razeen-Magical Moments) completed an encore. A mad rush to lay bets on Golden Flowers ensured a lucrative price for Glorious Fantasy once again. Those thriving on inside information made a beeline towards Golden Flowers but cursed themselves after watching the fate of the filly trained by Bharath Singh. Golden Flowers was never in the hunt and the field was left open for Glorious Fantasy to make the kill. Federico surprised many by going to the front and then showing reluctance to submit before the winner. For the record, Purple Blaze ended third ahead of Rage of Angels.
Narendra Lagad trained Thundering Star (Tirol-Eastern View) also made it two in a row in the hands of S.N.Chavan after the wayward Major Roberts retired from the fray in the straight. Sea Spray tried to throw a challenge at the winner but found him too good. Mysterious Land rallied well to finish third after falling back momentarily opposite the stands.
Orpheus (Razeen-Adored) completed a hat-trick with a facile win in the P.R.Mehta Trophy. The winner, now in charge of Vinayak, was never troubled by any of his rivals once he took charge at the bend. Happy Queen finished on late to deny Pine Crest the runner-up berth.
Imtiaz Sait trained Zeus (Diffident-Promising) left the maiden ranks by successfully shouldering an imposing 61 kilos.
C.Alford seized the initiative when the field entered the final stretch and kept the colt going. Realism took the second slot ahead of Silken Sunrise, who seems to be improving with each run. Favourite Touch A Star was in the vanguard for most of the time but failed to kick on and ended a poor fourth.
L.Prashant driven gelding Natural Vision (Conquering Hero-Natural Spell) from Altaf Hussain's yard scraped through for his second successive win even as Anchors Aweigh's late burst very nearly upset his applecart. Blazing Arrow and Helmsdale too ended close behind the winner.
Faisal Abbas saddled Yess Boss (Alnasr Alwasheek-Thanksgiving) joined the ranks of Thundering Star, Glorious Fantasy and Natural Vision, who had won in successive outings, when Samuel Fargeat helped him wrap the day's proceedings with a fine win over Caring. Captive Heart and Cakravana found their rhythm far too late to make any difference to the results.
