Southern Empire’s juggernaut rolls on
By True Blue

Mumbai
Jan 9, 2007

In one of the easiest passages any Indian Derby contender could ever dream of en-route his ultimate goal, S. Ganapathy’s Southern Empire (Placerville – Stunning) went through the motions of his last pre-Derby assignment by cantering away with the Ramniwas Ramnarain Ruia Gold Cup (Gr.2). B. Prakash had some trouble settling Southern Empire in the initial stages of the 2000 metre event but soon had him tucked away nicely as Red Apache executed his pacemaker role perfectly. Round the turn Major Wager also availed the opportunity of showing the way to the royalty from Bangalore even if for a few seconds. Southern Empire soon got into his act and so did the statisticians as the bay gelding annexed another trophy event. With the Indian Derby barely four weeks away there doesn't seem to be a credible challenger to Southern Empire's supremacy. 

Southern Empire does not have the monopoly over the unbeaten tag. So what if Czarina (Glory of Dancer – Flying Home) is not in the same league as Ganapathy’s ward but some meticulous planning by Imtiaz Sait ensured the sprightly filly’s winning sequence remained intact. K. P. G. Appu brought Czarina into contention when Petronella was in the process of fading away from the scene. The dark bay filly sprang forth and achieved her fourth career success. Desert Conqueror ran on to place ahead of Intrinsic Value and Thundering Star. The “withdrawal” syndrome has hit RWITC hard this winter and Celestrella became the second victim during the day.

The tangy flavour of Definite Spice’s maiden win still stifling their palate, bookies refused to fall to the temptations of Dr M. A. M. Ramaswamy’s property again. Definite Spice (Diffident – Pure Spice) thus brought no joy to the punters. She defied the handicapper with Colm O’Donoghue in charge. Andalusia and Magic Spell took the minor slots. Two other candidates sporting the colours of Ramaswamy had little or no role to play. Flaming Quest was found to be unsound at the gates and hence withdrawn while Ruben Star reared up awkwardly as the gates opened and came out riderless. 

It would be hypothetical to consider whether Flaming Quest would have bothered the favourite Quest for Cash (Black Cash – Native Quest) but yes she did have one victim less on the record. The Pesi Shroff trained and Niall McCullagh ridden filly was nowhere in the picture till the last furlong as Locomotion did the initial running and gave the mantle to Red Indian. Before the latter tried to establish his supremacy Niall alerted Quest for Cash and she was right on the money. The filly finished with a rattle to snatch the verdict from Red Indian and also keep Flashing Flame at bay.

With the handicap in his favour and one opponent less to tackle after Ruben Star ran riderless, Vinayak saddled Spinoza (Pennine Ridge – Shingle Path) found no major hurdles in the Homi Mody Trophy. He was ably assisted in the saddle by C. Ruzaan when Magic Touch came with an intimidating run in the hands of Niall. The weight told on the Zadmal Singh trained mare but she was not disgraced in this defeat.

The day started on a disastrous note for punters when Mansingh Jadhav trained Attention Seeker (Diffident – Inca Tern) shocked the followers of form. He had ended last in his only appearance this season but had broken his blood vessels then. However, it was difficult to comprehend such an exceptional show from Attention Seeker immediately after his return to racing and none expected Annot’s blood vessels to burst. Attention Seeker’s flourishing run nonetheless floored Enchanting Girl and Annot who were in chase of Star Girl right from the word go but failed to accelerate when she flopped. Oyster Gem’s late bid fetched the runner-up berth for her.

Emerging Power (Alnasr Alwasheek – Rich Babe) scored an overdue win after shifting to Dallas Todywalla’s school. Malcolm Kharadi took the charge from Sharapova effortlessly and was never in any danger of being caught by his rivals. Discover flattered when closing the gap on the winner who was being eased up. Upstage ran hopelessly throughout. 

Nirad Karanjawala saddled Thunderelo (Tirol – Thunderous) ran true to form in the hands of R. Rupesh and won comfortably from Millennium King and Teaser. There was inspiring support for Golden Fort but he was in no mood to oblige.