Venus Arising favoured to win 

Indian 1000 Guineas 
By Usman Rangila

Mumbai
Dec 12, 2004

The Indian 1000 Guineas (Gr.1), featuring as the first Indian classic of the country’s racing calendar, will be run without sponsorship after a gap of nearly fifteen years. The UB Group had sponsored this race for nearly a decade and it was run as the Kingfisher Indian 1000 Guineas till 2002 before the brewery company decided to call it a day as far as sponsorship of this race was concerned. After a one-off sponsorship deal by the UK-based London Club Worldwide last year, the Guineas is back to its original form and will be run as the Indian 1000 Guineas on Sunday.

A competitive field of sixteen fillies has been declared to start and the race is likely to culminate in an exhilarating finish. However, Cooji Katrak trained filly Venus Arising has caught the fancy of the bookies and they have installed her as the ante post favourite to win. The chestnut filly, Venus Arising (Steinbeck-Lei), was unbeaten in both her starts at Pune and won the Nanoli Stud Pune Derby (Gr.1) in splendid style during her last appearance. According to the record books only four Pune Derby winners – Desert Warrior, Astonish, Indictment and Forest Fantasy, have managed to do well in the Indian classics. However her owner Khushroo Dhunjibhoy is extremely confident and when asked his opinion about the chances of his two candidates, without batting an eyelid Mr Dhunjibhoy replied, “Venus Arising will be hard to toss.” 

Venus Arising (Steinbeck-Lei)

Whether Venus Arising will be able to acquit herself in the manner in which her connections hope to is a moot question but there is no denying that the daughter of Steinbeck has a touch of class. Malesh Narredu is going to steer the Khushroo Dhunjibhoy owned filly. Malesh had sported the same colours astride Dangerous Liason to win this event in 1991 and has since drawn a blank as far as this race goes. Cooji will saddle one more filly in Frida Kahlo, who failed to make headlines in the Hyderabad Guineas, and has entrusted her to Niall McCullagh.

Pricewise (Razeen-Gourgandine)

The main threat to the dominance of Venus Arising is likely come from Pricewise, one of the three fortune seekers from Bangalore. Blurr and Queen of Fashion are the other two. The chestnut filly Pricewise (Razeen-Gourgandine) will spearhead the challenge of Dr M. A. M. Ramaswamy. Pricewise, trained by S.Ganapathy, had a dress rehearsal for this event at Bangalore last month and won quite convincingly. Jockey Paul Eddery has been flown down to fill in for the injured B. Prakash. Queen of Fashion (Razeen-Fly For Baby) has been unable to live up to the expectations of her connections but had recorded a victory on debut at this same ground last year before shifting base to Bangalore. Jockey P. Kamlesh will probably discharge the duties on Queen of Fashion.

Winning the Poonawalla Breeders Multi Million in February this year was the only claim to fame for Michael Eshwer’s candidate in this race Blurr (Glory of Dancer-Buona Sera). Blurr is yet to win a race at her home ground but has been successful in both her ventures at Mahalaxmi last season. If her current form is anything to go by, Blurr does not appear intimidating to the prospects of the frontline contenders.

Dancing Image (Placerville-Moving Image) started her career late during the Pune season and returned victorious in both her last starts. The filly is on the upgrade and her master Altaf Hussain looks to be very bullish about her chances. The Irish professional Pat Smullen is arriving to partner Dancing Image. Imtiaz Sait has three runners and Waves of Glory (Placerville-Louise a La Plage), who was a major disappointment in the Hyderabad Guineas recently, will be his flag-bearer. Imtiaz feels that the trauma of the long journey to Hyderabad had a telling effect on the performance of the bay filly. According to Imtiaz, Waves of Glory latest trial movements have been encouraging and she should give a bold show. Jockey C. Rajendra will steer Waves of Glory.

Dancing Image (Placerville-Moving Image)