Royal
Princess was one of the fancied runners in the Indian Oaks where she
finished fourth behind barnmate Blue Ribbon. Royal Princess (Royal
Kingdom-Tiddly Widdly) was at the top of the scales in the Revelation
Trophy (Class II) and still the hot favourite to win the feature race.
Niall McCullagh partnered the Pesi Shroff saddled filly and was flawless
in the saddle as ever. Naill was hardly perturbed when Julpha, who was
in receipt of 15kg from the favourite, went streaking into the lead from
the barrier. He kept Royal Princess in the third slot and made his move
gradually as the final turn arrived. Julpha did not raise much
resistance and vacated the stage for Royal Princess. Patroclus and
Flying Rani entered the scene too but without creating any nuisance for
Royal Princess.
Niall accomplished a
much easier task with his other engagement earlier in the day. He was
piloting Bezan Chenoy trained Pillatus (Black Cash-Cinora) who gave him
an armchair ride in the Thanksgiving Trophy. Spiritual Flame tried to
steal a march over her rivals in the straight but Pillatus foiled her
attempt. He was full of running when Niall asked him for an effort and
went cruising away for his maiden win.
Gold Biscuit (Don't Forget Me-Arctic Eyes) from Altaf Hussain's yard
expectedly gave C. Rajendra a hassle-free experience in the curtain
raiser as the three rivals proved no match for him. Ponte Romano was out
for an airing but made most of this opportunity to have a forward run.
He retired a long way behind the winner but had enough steam left in him
to stay ahead of Light My Fire and Viceroy.
Imtiaz Sait had a bad day in office as two of his three runners during
the day were highly fancied but failed to deliver. Jalapeno showed no
appreciable change in her performance, though not probably due to lack
of ability, and continued to shun the judge's board this season. Sea
Sand (Conquering Hero-Tariyana) had given the racegoers a glimpse of her
potential when she last ran. Sea Sand lived up to the promise shown then
when Bharath Singh once again entrusted her to Jerry Pereira and the
latter proved that he had committed no folly. Pereira timed his
challenge to perfection and set alight the bay filly opposite the
stands. Sea Sand pulled away from the pack and left Habit and Wells
Fargo to fight for the minor places. Thunderella ran a forward race and
retired to be fourth.
The Praetorian was the second fancied runner from Sait's yard but he was
declared unfit to race when he reached the gates. With the
next-in-demand Born To Lead and Alaskan Zone found wanting on the
acceleration front, Asad Siddiqui's ward Ponyta (Placerville-Time And
Time) found the winning post staring at her when Nuncio relinquished his
lead. The bookies were obviously delighted but the one who exulted in
Ponyta's unexpected triumph was rookie Nadeem Alam, her rider.
Jockey Harish will once again have to cool his heels on the sidelines as
he was held guilty of careless and dangerous riding for the third time
this season after jockey T. S. Jodha astride Red Mesa got dislodged in
the home straight. Harish was blamed for this mishap as the Stewards
felt that Bonny Light shifted course to take the lead when not
sufficiently clear of Red Mesa.
Bonny Light though surrendered his lead to Acton Town and Black Warrior
in the shadow of the post and ended third. As Bonny Light was
disqualified, Return of the King, who came late in the picture, was
promoted to the third place. Discover always seemed poised for an
assault but that was just an illusion. Since money always seems to do
the talking for trainer Vijay Kasbekar's stables, Discover will probably
put his foot forward whenever such 'money-talking' happens.
Malesh Narredu had a solitary winner from five rides and the provider
was Fiddlers Ferry (Pennine Ridge-Innara). The Nina Lalvani trained dark
bay gelding was always in striking position behind Incroyable, who was
ridden into the ground over this Derby trip, and went surging past her
in the last stretch of the journey. La Tremolo edged out Incroyable, who
was unintentionally tenacious while letting go the runner-up berth from
her grasp.
