The day started off
with the successful foray of the Faisal Abbas trained Akash. The Balla
Jidaal progeny stayed close on the haunches of Osprey and Seville Star
till the final turn and surged clear when apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh
exerted pressure on the bay gelding. There was sustained support for
Rehanullah Khan’s candidate Love And Be Loved but the filly threw
tantrums at the gates forcing the Starter to abort her
participation. Turf Crown surprisingly shared the favouritism with Love
And Be Loved for some time before it became clear that his
weight-reducing mission had not ended as yet.
Thundering Star (Tirol-Eastern View) faced very mediocre opposition
and it was no surprise that he gave C. Rajendra an
armchair ride to victory in the upper division of the Mount Everest
Trophy. In the lower division, Dr Anil Kumar saddled debutant Speed
Sachet caught the market’s fancy as support for the other candidates
waned in the betting ring. The dark bay son of Sizzling Melody was
sluggish at the start and never recovered from that lapse. The grey
filly Interlaken (Conquering Hero-Arctic Gold), who had run last in a
field of ten in early March, showed plenty of speed on this occasion
to win by making every post of the scurry a winning one in the
hands of Satish Nayak. Upstage laboured hard to fill the runner-up slot.
Zermatt, stable-mate of the winner and a pre-race favourite, ran on to
be third ahead of Silver Shine when the race was all but over.
Dr Anil Kumar, however, did lead in a winner when the L. Prashant
ridden Sweet Success (Diffident-Secret Spell) just about prevailed over
Only For Don, Diamond Princess and Velvet Claws, who were mere
passengers as were the other contestants in the V. P. Koregaonkar Plate.
Ante post favourite Serendipity struggled all the way and the probable
reason that can be attributed to her poor show could be her burst blood
vessels.
Favourite High Opinion also suffered the same fate as Serendipity where
Sanjay Kolse saddled Raphaela (Razeen-Magical Moments) ended her string
of dismal performances. C. Rajendra steered her to a convincing victory
over top-weighted So Shocking. The use of cross nose band and tongue
strap on Raphaela seems to have helped the filly give an improved
performance. High Opinion was the firm favourite to win before the
bookmakers chose to rewrite his destiny. The odds against High Opinion
went spiralling up for no apparent reason and although his blood vessels
were found ruptured after the race, the writing was already on the wall
when the wagering was in progress for the Commander In Chief Plate.
Interestingly, Magic Nobility was the recipient of the moneybags’
attention but she turned out to be unworthy of the frenzied support.
Rose Petals (Flitch-Cedar Rose) proved far too superior for Oscar Star
despite the fact that she was conceding 6kg to the favourite. Pradeep
Chouhan, curiously, thought it wise to adopt start-to-finish tactics
with Oscar Star who failed miserably. Having been
ridden to the ground, the Antia trained Oscar Star had no strength to repel the onslaught
of Rose Petals, who for once stretched away from her rivals. Magical
Morn arrived quite late on the scene to finish third ahead of God Mamma.
Trainer Arti Doctor had a reason to smile when Star Gold
(Placerville-Ashwakrupa) lived up to expectations by thrashing her
rivals in the concluding race of the day. The bay filly set her own pace
and was never headed at any stage of the race. Rosemount and Well Versed
were no match for the winner though the duo did manage to take the minor
places.
