Dedication, Shadow Fax, Stara Zagora produce sparkling runs to romp home
By Usman Rangila
Mumbai
Dec 26, 2004
Though there was a perceptible sense of gloom in the air around the port city of Mumbai and then the threat of Tsunami striking the shores, which mercifully turned out to be a hoax call, results of the races held at Mahalaxmi were not catastrophic. However, Niall McCullagh’s ardent supporters went home disappointed as the Irishman failed in both his assignments astride Raphaela and Real Beauty, who were both strongly fancied to win in their respective events.
Fortune hunters made a killing for there were quite a good number of horses that sped past the winning post carrying smart money on their backs. The first one from among this list to deliver the goods was Flag Bearer and the 1.5kg-claimer Abhishek Habbu was the chosen one by RWITC committee member Mohan Thakur for this task. The Arti Doctor-trained chestnut son of Diffident out of Jacinta encountered rough passage and got sandwiched between Battle Launch and Secret Path at one stage. Abhishek did not falter after dropping back a few places and brought Flag Bearer with a scintillating run to collar Auchinblae and Magic Honey, who were disputing the issue till his arrival on the scene. Stunning Effort ran on leisurely to fill the frame while Money Star never seemed to be in the hunt at all.
The way the odds against Roofer got slammed, it was apparent that the Mansoor Shah trainee would be sporting his galloping shoes on this occasion. Freedom’s Choice took charge opposite the stands but K. P. G. Appu got Roofer going with a liberal dose of his whip. Roofer had his say in the end but runner-up Freedom’s Choice capitulation was far too easy to cope with. Alice Wonder was more than content to get a place on the board but it was rank outsider Out Of The Ordinary who caught the attention with a late flourish when the race was all but over. Free To Fly and Divine Romance seemed to have saved their best for some other day, as they both refused to put their best foot forward.
The moneybags received two blows in quick succession as Raphaela and Real Beauty both ran much below expectations. Raphaela, who had blotted her record with a dismal performance at Pune, had the services of Niall McCullagh and the pattern of her morning work suggested that she would probably come good.
Raphaela was settled back in mid-bunch as Heroism called the early shots. Revelry (Tirol-Party Time) raced close on his haunches of the leader and waiting for the right moment to pounce on him. Revelry got this opportunity only when the field entered the home stretch. The bay filly from Bezan Chenoy’s yard flew in response to C. Rajendra’s call and won convincingly from Crown Court, who found his rhythm far too late to make any difference to the result. Zante ended a game third ahead of Radical Velocity. Raphaela started falling back when alerted to her task by Niall and eventually ran down the field.
Real Beauty with Niall in the saddle flattered briefly as she took over from Star Swallow but debutant Oprah swooped down on her and appeared to be on course for a winning debut. But Zafferano and Dedication, who were both racing at the wrong end of the field till the turn, came firing on all cylinders. Malesh Narredu drove Dedication (Tirol-Compassion) with full purpose and had something in reserve when he zoomed past the wire. When asked for his comments on the failures of both Raphaela and Real Beauty, Niall although disappointed had not lost his sense of humour and told this correspondent, “From being a hero to becoming a zero it has taken me just two rides. Jokes apart let me tell you that Raphaela is not even fifty percent of what she was in the previous season and there was definitely something amiss in her action today. As for Real Beauty, she disappointed me badly after her good show on debut. But she has the potential to get over this performance.”
Michael Eshwer saddled Splendid Smith (Greensmith-Splendid Girl) was hard-ridden by Y. S. Srinath to thwart the attempts of Arctic Zone close home and make his first appearance after being relocated from Singapore a winning one. Shadow Fax (Placerville-Nautica) from Dr Anil Kumar’s barns and Pesi Shroff’s ward Stara Zagora (Alnasr Alwasheek-Divine Light) both recorded impressive victories after being nowhere in the picture till the final turn. After being prominent in the front group during the early stages of the Vallabhdas Adwalia Trophy, Shadow Fax dropped back gradually to lie at the tail end of the closely huddled field. Passion hit the front when On The Ridge retired and was in sight of her maiden win before Shadow Fax unleashed a brilliant run. A. R. Mani exercised full control over his mount and prevailed over the favourite in the last fifty meters. Reasoning ran on late to be third ahead and was closely followed by Fraud.
When the field of thirteen was approaching the last turn, nobody would’ve given Stara Zagora a ghost of a chance. But when the field entered the home stretch, Stara Zagora burst on to the scene with an explosive run and despite hanging in he made Pesi Shroff proud with a winning debut.
