Malesh's brawl with Prakash mars an otherwise enjoyable day of racing
By Usman Rangila
Mumbai
Jan 02, 2005
The fare dished out to usher in the new-year at Mahalaxmi racecourse was precisely what the doctor had ordered for the punters. The results of the seven races had a delicious flavour that made the day highly enjoyable for them. The proceedings were marred by the tussle between Malesh Narredu and B. Prakash astride Aquilo and Smart Vision respectively. Such was the intensity of the fight that it took shape of a street brawl between the two top-flight riders of the country. Fortuitously for the sport, the favourite established an upper hand at the finish. Had the outcome been any different, the situation at the racecourse would’ve definitely taken an ugly turn. A glimpse of the tragedy averted was amply visible in the near-violent outburst of the angered racegoers as Malesh made his way back to the paddock.
This is not the first time that Malesh and Prakash have been involved in an incident of this sort. Second favourite Alexandria showed the way to the small field vying for the Royal Crusader Trophy with Malesh atop Aquilo gnawing at her heels. B. Prakash astride Smart Vision, who was in close proximity of his adversaries, was seeking to come the shortest way home. Malesh found a sitting duck in Prakash and performed every possible act that was in his capacity to deny his arch rival any room to manoeuvre and in the process bumped Smart Vision more than once. The fact that Alexandria was running ahead of him precipitated the matters further for Prakash. It seemed like some divine intervention forced Alexandria and Aquilo to move sideways and create enough space for Smart Vision to poke his way through. The S. Ganapathy saddled Smart Vision, who is from the first crop of Manjri Stud stallion Major Impact, was full of running and settled the issue without much ado. Sea Spray finished on purposefully to end a close fourth.
The drama continued after Smart Vision got a hero’s welcome on return to the paddocks. Malesh stunned everybody by lodging an objection against Prakash. Even as the race commentator was about to complete an announcement to this effect, a professional, who was hanging around the weighing-room, instantly remarked “Ek to chori aur phir upar se seena jori.” After due deliberations, that were inaudible to the racing patrons as the Hyderabad Oaks was being telecast live, the Stewards decided to overrule Malesh’s protest. In hindsight, one can only presume that the underlying motive in Malesh’s objection was to scuttle the prospects of any punitive action against him.
The day started off with favourite Rare Beauty being declared a non-starter after receiving a bleeding injury as she was about to step out on the racetrack. Her withdrawal coupled with the feeble finishing effort of apprentice Vikram Jodha astride Queen’s Special and the lack of interest shown by the other runners allowed Wine N’ Song to register an encore. The aged mare trained by ex-jockey Amjad Khan, galloped resolutely under Zameer Sayyed’s handling to pip Queen’s Special on the post. Soon afterwards, the Malesh –ridden and Hormuz Antia-saddled piping-hot favourite Against All Odds survived the menacing assault launched by Speedster, who seemed to be only horse interested in the proceedings.
Lapwing (Diffident-Great Request) made up for her earlier failures with a runaway victory under the able guidance of Niall McCullagh. The Mansingh Jadhav nursed filly was ridden in check on this occasion and simply drew away from her rivals when alerted by the Irishman. Acerenzza from Pesi Shroff’s yard made a belated and futile attempt to catch the winner but will surely emerge stronger after this run. Quick Fix was in the vanguard till opposite the stands but gave a dismal show by dropping out of contention abruptly.
Imtiaz Sait registered a fabulous hat-trick towards the end of day. He first led in Blue Horizon (Placerville-Star Spangled) who wove her through the field and took charge in the last two furlongs to record her third straight victory. Following Blue Horizon was the brigade of grey horses headed by Star King and Maracaibo. Perpetuate (Placerville-Academic) gave no anxious moments to her fans when C. Rajendra asked her for an effort just as the heads turned for home. The bay filly swept past stable-mate Velocity, who had taken the shortest route home. Spectacular Star ran a tame third. Finally, Rajendra gave a superb ride to Savoy (Tirol-Bold Bequest), who despite conceding chunks of weight to Happy Queen snuffed out her challenge close home.
