Decameron registers an encore in the Pyare Miya Trophy
By Usman Rangila
Mumbai
Feb 17, 2005
Running on promotion and pitted against Class III company, the four-year-old gelding Decameron showed steady improvement over his Pune form to produce a sparkling run in the home stretch to win the Pyare Miya Trophy here on Thursday. Malesh Narredu rode the chestnut son of Storm Trooper out of Kilshannig well off the pace as Solar Flower set a fast pace. Surprisingly, jockey Y. S. Srinath astride the favourite Noble Desire chose not settle his charge in the early stages of the nine-furlong trip and instead went in hot pursuit of Solar Flower. When it came to a crunch in the straight, Noble Desire was apparently sapped of his energy and unable to repel the assault of Decameron. After storming into the lead Malesh kept up the pressure on Decameron to ensure a second straight win for the gelding. Vindication ran third throughout without posing any serious threat to both the winner and Noble Desire.
Nothing exceptional was required from Srinath in the saddle atop the piping-hot favourite Ballybunnion (Razeen-Veena’s Pet) as the Bezan Chenoy trained filly carried an imposing 61kg on her back and yet decimated the mediocre opposition in the Tribute Trophy.
Srinath had earlier managed to miss out on Bikini Bomb, after the favourite Our Own Star was declared a non-starter in the upper division of the Sporting Alliance Plate. The three-year-old filly trained by Michael Eshwer had every chance to collar Jubilation but didn’t avail that opportunity. The Cooji Katrak trained Jubilation (Greensmith-Miracle Honey), a 15 to 1 long shot eventually prevailed by a whisker in the hands of P. Kamlesh. Cooji had almost caused a similar upset in the lower division when debutant Sandslash had all but claimed the honours. Mark Gallagher ridden Queen of Palms (Greensmith-Romantic Feelings) waged a grim battle with the Dallas Todywalla saddled chestnut filly after joining the issue with her opposite the stands and had the upper hand at the finish to save the day for the moneybags.
Apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh showed remarkable confidence atop Shiraz Sunderji trained Twin Power (No Louder-Marie De Chantilly), who tasted his first career success. The five-year-old bay gelding made gradual progress and slipped into the lead 300-metres from home. Favourite Fire Alarm warmed up late to his task to end a tame third behind Rushing River and was followed by Taras Bulba. Trainer Robert D’ Mellow led in his first winner of this season when Charlie Parker (Tecorno-Badedra) ran true to form and came with a flourishing run from way behind to overwhelm two fancied horses, Oscar Star and Castle Pride, who were busy disputing the issue. Apprentice L. Prashant justified the faith reposed in him by trainer Vijay Kasbekar when the young lad steered Letsgetloud to a narrow victory over favourite Seattle Swan. Hormuz Antia’s painstaking efforts with Against All Odd’s (Placerville-Night of Gaiety) did, however, bear fruit when the chestnut mare unleashed a brilliant run as the heads turned for home and brought an abrupt end to the start-to-finish tactics of Sparkle. The aged Park Lane brought home the bacon for his master Damodaran Pillai in the concluding event of the day. Park Lane lay at the wrong end of the field for most of the mile journey but came with a sustained run on the wide outside when Vikram Jodha alerted him to his task at the bend. Dancing Mystery took the shortest way home but was frustrated to find Park Lane travelling better at the end. Ronaldinho and Czai were not far off. Czai especially showed zest for racing and should be in the reckoning soon.
