Blue Horizon emerges as the best sprinter in Western India

By Usman Rangila


Feb 13, 2004

“Star Qualities and Blue Horizon are the best on form, the other frontline contenders are over the hill,” was the gist of legendary trainer Rashid Byramji’s assessment reportedly given to an acquaintance before the running of the Dr S. C. Jain Sprinters Trophy (Gr.2) on Sunday. Byramji’s ward Star Qualities was unfortunately declared a non-starter but the veteran professional was bang on target with Blue Horizon. The chestnut four-year-old filly from Imtiaz Sait’s stable moved a step closer to the crown of the best sprinter in the country as she made an authoritative statement by bagging the feature event and thereby earning a nomination for the Sprinters’ Cup to be run during the Indian Invitation Cup weekend in Chennai next month.

Blue Horizon (Placerville-Star Spangled) had achieved a hat-trick in handicap events this season and was meeting some seasoned thoroughbreds on this occasion. The terms of this Grade 2 race were not exactly in her favour either. This hardly proved to be a hurdle for Blue Horizon as she eclipsed Hawke Bay, Great Strides and Rosmini through sheer class. Imtiaz, as usual, has done a marvellous job by chalking out her itinerary to perfection, which has helped the filly owned by the Jhangiani family to step up her performance level with each run. 

Blue Horizon (Srinath up), winner of the Dr.S.C.Jain Sprinters` Trophy

Freeze of presentation ceremony of the Dr.S.C.Jain Sprinters` Trophy

Malesh Narredu astride Hawke Bay grabbed the lead and was chased by Great Strides. These two continued to hold sway over the proceedings till Y. S. Srinath set Blue Horizon alight in the last two furlongs. The filly started devouring ground and danger was soon looming large for both Hawke Bay and Great Strides. The inevitable happened in last fifty metres where Blue Horizon asserted her supremacy if only to prove correct the statement made by Byramji that the likes of Great Strides, Rosmini and Hawke Bay were over the hill. Blue Horizon won sparing half-length to Hawke Bay with Great Strides finishing an identical distance away. Rosmini ran in patches to end a tame fourth.

Srinath was in a dominating mood and cornered the limelight by booting home a treble, Exotic Fantasy and Imperialism being his other two winners. Exotic Fantasy (Razeen-Cover Story) wore down Friendly Gift in the shadow of the winning post but the Hormuz Antia trained filly was required to be hard-ridden by Srinath to do so. Srinath was seen at his best aboard the Michael Eshwer saddled five-year-old gelding Imperialism (Greensmith-Imperial Satsuma), who made light of the heavy impost on his back to claim the lower division of the Director General of Police Trophy. Apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh, in contrast, was all at sea in the saddle astride Timely One but for which the runner-up would’ve certainly run closer. Bregenz, who was running after a long gap, was not sighted at the finish.

Srinath replaced Colm O’Donoghue, who was not cleared to ride by Bangalore Turf Club after reporting sick on Saturday, on the half-money favourite Havana in the Y. M. Chaudhary Memorial Trophy. The debutant from Altaf Hussain’s yard struggled throughout the race after a sluggish start. The Dallas Todywalla trained filly Theatre Lady (Greensmith-Amazing Princess) didn’t let this opportunity go waste and wrested the initiative from stable-mate Indian Fashion to graduate from the maiden ranks with a fluent victory in the hands of Mark Gallagher. High Five (Placerville-Mary Bankes), however, gave Altaf a reason to smile as Imran Shaikh spurred the gelding to go surging past Digital and Tralee. Favourite Lamplight blew up in the straight after apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh tried runaway tactics, which proved suicidal in the end. Divine Romance, who sported blinkers on this occasion, got off slowly from the gates and the change in equipment proving to be of no use.

Rehanullah Khan trainee Romantica (Binkhaldoun-By Queen) gave a speedy display and went on to show a clean pair of heels to her rivals in the upper division of the Director General Trophy. Revelry and Zante were in hopeless chase of the winner throughout and finished so. Revelry was conceding 12-kg to Romantica and it had a telling effect on her performance. Quoted at an attractive price in the betting ring, , Back In Action finally wore his galloping shoes and with strong assistance in saddle from the in form Amyn Merchant, the Damodaran Pillai trained son of Concordial out of Princess Riyahi, made another profitable venture for his connections. Back In Action got up just in time to overwhelm Joy of Light close home.

At the start of the day, Abhishek Habbu ridden Imogene (Flitch-Issabelle) set her own sweet pace over the mile-and-a-quarter trip to earn her maiden career success. Imogene, now saddled by Sandeep Mangalorkar, won untroubled all the way. Maid of Money, curiously, dropped back to the last position at the final turn and then ran on be second. Mistilook (Inner City-Island Mist) justified the favouritism in the concluding event allowing apprentice Vikram Walkar to complete a double. The Faisal Abbas trained Mistilook pounced upon the early leaders and stepped up speed to go clear of her rivals. Millennium King finished second ahead of Verzzano and Khushnaseeb.