Pesi
had his moment in the sun when Blue Ribbon (Alnasr Alwasheek-Endorsement)
produced a top notch performance to outclass the favourite
Guest Connections in the Dheeraj Indian Oaks (Gr.1) on Sunday.
This was only the fourth career start of Blue Ribbon and it is indeed to
the credit of both Pesi and her rider Niall McCullagh that the
bay filly responded to the task of bringing their 'Operation Indian Oaks' to its
triumphant
conclusion. Rated far below Guest Connections in the handicap and with
just two victories, the last one in Class IV, to her credit, Blue
Ribbon still attracted better support than Rain Splasher and Real
Excellence. Laying bare the scheme of the Pesi camp, Dreaming made the
early running over the 2400m trip followed by stablemate Royal Princess
and the Hyderabad Oaks winner Rain Splasher. Settled back a little
further were Blue Ribbons and Guest Connections. Dreaming had done her
bit as the final turn approached after which the lead changed hands
briefly between Rain Splasher and Royal Princess. Here B. Prakash
switched lanes and put Guest Connections in top gear. Timing his
challenge to perfection, Niall too got busy on Blue Ribbons a fraction
of a second later.
S. Ganapathy's charge unleashed her trademark gallop but she would've
hardly guessed that Blue Ribbons was sturdier than her bandaged legs
depicted. Niall initially just nursed Blue Ribbons to stand up to the
challenge of her more experienced rival and then powered her to gain a
slender lead. Prakash was momentarily taken aback by the tenacity shown
by Blue Ribbon but he kept up the pressure on Guest Connections. Yet she
could not match the strides of Blue Ribbons and a furlong away from home
it was apparent to all that the favourite was waging a lost battle. Blue
Ribbon's performance was akin to that of David against Goliath. She
had overcome all adversities to give her master Pesi Shroff his first Indian
classic as a trainer and her Irish rider his third.
Before this momentous occasion could arrive for Pesi, another classic
performer flourishing in his yard had his sprinting prowess on
display. C. Ruzaan driven Diego Riviera (Diffident-Rahy's
Serenade) let Hidden Dragon and Jubilation make merry in the front but
mowed them down ruthlessly in the home stretch to win the 1200m
P.D.Avasia Trophy. Torque expectedly ran
second while Dedication surprised many by stretching out in final stages
of the race to deny Dynamical a chance to be in the money. For
Dedication this was a just a rehearsal before he is pitched over a
longer distance which suits him best.
Winding up the special day on a happy note, Pesi kind of handed a wedding gift
to jockey R. Rupesh, who recently tied the knot, by sending out Salazaar
(Burden of Proof-Summer Dust) to his maiden victory. The bay gelding
had no difficulty in overpowering leader Thunder Zone in the last
furlong and stayed on course despite Hisham's late flurry. Sea Sand
endured the severe belting of Jerry Pereira before she could end third.
She is slowly but surely getting into shape.
Pesi achieved a treble in
the end but had some hiccups at the start of the day. Deeleecious, a
piping hot debutant, flopped miserably. It was Mansingh Jadhav's Sea Gull (Placerville-Silver Academy) that
delivered a surprise package. Vikram Walkar urged the grey filly to grab
the lead early in the race and was never headed at any stage of the
race. Bu Attifel, sporting a winter coat, finished second followed by
Mercedes with Deeleecious ending an inexplicable fourth.
In the very next race Obelinna, another debutant from Pesi's yard,
also ran below expectations which could be attributed to her
inexperience. Ganapathy trained Assert The Right (Razeen-Altitude)
escaped the clutches of Chevron, who failed to raise a fluent gallop
towards the end of the race, to graduate from the maiden ranks. Flashing
Flame ran on to be third.
Clearly outpaced by the nimble-footed Star Girl, Lago Medio suffered the
vagaries of the game experienced by countless favourites like him
before. The Dominator (Diffident-Diamonds Forever) enjoyed the
feather-weight on his back and stopped Star Girl in her tracks nearer
home to the annoyance of many punters.
Bezan Chenoy saddled Taanush also benefited from the allowance claimed
by D. K. Ashish to go surging clear of top-weighted Asiatique in the
last two furlongs of the mile journey. Taanush's cause was further
aided, not as much by the interference suffered by Queen Victoria from
the runner-up as her refusal to put her best foot forward.
Malesh Narredu delighted the moneybags by giving the confident ride deserved by
Mansoor Shah's ward Take On (Tirol-Takwim). The mare ran true to
form and won decisively from the late finishing Maybach.
Ruben Star was up to his tricks once again and reared up when the start
was given though mercifully Prakash was not hurt or dislodged in the
process. Ruben Star had every chance to win the race despite his roguish
behaviour but was reluctant to spoil the party of Orpheus. The C. D.
Katrak trained Orpheus (Razeen-Adored) lay third behind Sail Away
but improved steadily as the race progressed. Zameer Sayyed alerted him
opposite the stands and Orpheus was back on his way to the winner's
circle.
