Soul Mountain, Secret Warrior bite dust to give a rude shock to punters 
By Usman Rangila

Mumbai
Nov 21, 2004

Come November and it is preparation time for every aspirant of the Indian classics. Winning the Indian 1000 or the 2000 Guineas is considered the first step towards the Classic Crown and the thoroughbreds usually have a prep race at this time of the year. Only few classic hopefuls start on the right note, the rest fall by the wayside at the first hurdle itself. Soul Mountain and Secret Warrior enrolled themselves in the latter category on Sunday.

It has a known fact that there is nothing such as a “certainty” in horseracing. Yet the form and the credentials of both Soul Mountain and Secret Warrior were such that they automatically became overwhelming favourites to win their respective events. The quality of the opposition also strengthened the belief that these two favourites were worthy. The paltry odds offered by the bookmakers against the duo, also projected them as invincible. However punters were in for a rude shock as first Soul Mountain and then Secret Warrior bit dust. It is very likely that the owners would’ve experienced the same anguish.

Nonetheless, trainer Hosidar Daji had no complaints whatsoever. It was he who saddled Fantastic Knight and Starynsky, who humbled Soul Mountain and Secret Warrior respectively. Sorab Jilla also had his share of the pie with good priced double. Apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh justified the faith reposed in him by Sorab and provided able support to both Lamplight and California. Ivor Fernandes led in the first two-year-old juvenile winner, Precision, and had a bonus through Everlasting Joy at the end of the day. Irish jockey Naill McCullagh announced his arrival at Mahalaxmi with a popular double and it certainly helped in easing the pain of the punters to a great extent.

Lamplight (T R Shaikh up), winner of the Super Hero Plate

Fantastic Knight (Suraj Narredu up), winner of the Sir Rahimtoola Chinoy Trophy

Sorab’s decision to use blinkers on the three-year-old maiden Lamplight (Brave Hunter-Shuffle Up) paid off when took on eight rivals in a handicap race. The filly won almost start to finish but caused a minor scare when straying from the straight course in the home stretch. Moondarra posed a threat but she too went the opposite way towards the rails allowing Lamplight to romp home. Deserving Lady lost much ground at the start but ran on to snatch the runner-up berth from Moondarra. 

California, also sired by Brave Hunter, produced a sparkling run down the straight as a result of which the lofty ambitions of Lara Croft were cut down to size close home. Jockey A. R. Mani found a wall of horses ahead of him at the final turn and tried to bring the filly saddled by Dr Anil Kumar through the shortest way home. Before succeeding in doing so, Mani squeezed Zahra, who was travelling close to the inner rails, and shutting the doors of any chances the favourite might have had of winning the race. Lara Croft flattered briefly but was soon overpowered by California and Diffidence.

Naill McCullagh started from where he had left off this summer as he powered the debutant Precision (Tirol-Metronomic) to a comfortable victory over Carrera. Precision and Carrera dominated the finish as was widely expected but the supporters of the former went laughing all the way to the banks. Later in the day, Naill confidently steered Altaf Hussain-trained Dancing Image (Diffident-Moving Image) to a convincing victory over Si Gentille, who was going nowhere despite the fervent attempts of Samuel Fargeat. Star Gold appeared on the scene only when the race was in the safekeeping of Dancing Image. Regius and Divine Romance never participated in the battle but would be better off with this exposure.

Dancing Image (McCullagh up), winner of the Vijay Chaubal Trophy

Having won two races at Pune in an absolute canter Soul Mountain was seen struggling to keep pace with the frontrunners headed by his owner-mate Ramjet. Fantastic Knight (Sir Bruce-Vanity Fair), who raced in the fourth position till the bend, uncoiled a terrific run when Suraj Narredu gave him a taste of his aircush whip. The dark bay gelding flew in response and was unstoppable after that. In an apparently futile fire-fighting exercise, the senior stipe accompanied by a club vet descended at the site where the connections of Soul Mountain were busy figuring out the possible reasons behind the flop show of the 10 to 2 on favourite. Normally there is huge uproar in the racecourse when a favourite like Soul Mountain tastes defeat. Interestingly, nothing of the sort happened and this probably had something to do with the thin attendance witnessed this week. 

Bregenz and Starynsky headed the four-horse field competing for the jinxed Maharaja of Morvi Trophy with Dallas Todywalla’s ward Secret Warrior lying a handy third in company of Rivage. It seemed that it would be a matter of time before Secret Warrior called the bluff of his rivals running in the front. Like Soul Mountain, Secret Warrior too groped to keep pace and when the grey Starynsky surged ahead, the curtains were well and truly drawn over the favourite’s chances. 

Mister Fixit and Everlasting Joy having successfully conducted a weight-reducing mission at Pune appeared poised to land the spoils now. Of the two, Mister Fixit caught the market’s fancy as Everlasting Joy is not a weight carrier. So far so good but the punters forgot that Don Surti’s candidates, invariably, fail to carry the weight of the public’s purse. From 10 to 9 on prior to race time, the odds against Mister Fixit spiralled to 7 to 4. One knew that the favourite’s fate was sealed if not “fixed”. Everlasting Joy gave a pleasant surprise by rallying on from fourth position to nail down the favourite in the last furlong. Mister Fixit suffered the ignominy of finishing fourth behind Living Logic and Magnificence.

Starynsky (S Fargeat up) winner of the Maharaja Of Morvi Trophy

Everlasting Joy (R Shelar up) winner of the Time And Place Plate