Liesl stalls Pesi Shroff’s bid to saddle a winner on debut as a trainer
By Usman Rangila

Mumbai
Nov 25, 2004

There was kind of an air of expectancy in the racing circles when ex-jockey Pesi Shroff donned a new role as a horse trainer and stepped into the paddocks at Mahalaxmi racecourse with Some Time, his first and only runner of the day. Those sentimentally attached to Pesi carried a notion that the champion jockey will send out a winner on debut. Jockey C. Rajendra and his mount Liesl (Placerville-Stop It Dear) were in no mood dole out any sops to anybody and thus gave a resolute show to foil the ambitions of Some Time.

Pitlochry and Liesl disputed the lead in the early stages of the seven-furlong journey with Rajendra taking the backseat for the time being. No sooner had the heads turned for home, Liesl bounded forward and Rajendra keeping his head down and encouraging the Imtiaz Sait trained filly to stick to her task. C. Ruzaan failed to get an opening towards the rails and had to switch Some Time on the outside. By the time the chestnut colt could find his rhythm, the winning post had already come to the rescue of Liesl. Considering the fact that Some Time had undergone a surgery to remove a chip during his eight-month self-imposed sabbatical and was conceding no less than 9.5-kg to the winner, the Tejano progeny was certainly not disgraced in this defeat and lives to fight for yet another day.

Teaser (D G Shanker up), winner of the Abudant Plate

Infinite Glory (McCullagh up), winner of the Pierce Arrow Plate

Niall McCullagh was once again the star performer as he booted home a brace through 
Infinite Glory (Glory of Dancer-Istelle) and Radical Velocity. The former saddled by veteran Saeed Shah made every post of mile trip a winning one to emerge from the maiden ranks. Favourite Suleiman Pasha broke his blood vessels and ran a listless race to finish down the field. Top-weighted Ronin was running after a year and surely needed this run as he ended fourth behind Brezhnev and Battery.

Niall had reserved his best for Radical Velocity (Placerville-Speedbird) at the end of the day and rode her skilfully to crush the major coup attempt of Adam’s Bounty. The latter hailing from Hanut Singh’s yard tried runaway tactics and almost succeeded before Niall put a question across to the Altaf Hussain trainee. There was no instant response from Radical Velocity, who was recently acquired by her new owners, but the Irish applied relentless pressure and gained the upper hand close home. Quick Flash came from nowhere to end a faraway third and it would pay to monitor the progress of this Placerville progeny from here onwards. 

Hanut, however, had led in Sound of Silence (Tirol-Silent Tale) after she humbled favourite Lapwing. The Mansingh Jadhav saddled daughter of Diffident had the scales in her favour and apprentice Vikram Walkar tried to capitalise on it by taking her on a start-to-finish mission. Lapwing on right on course till the last furlong or so but succumbed meekly as she ran out of fuel. Both Naughty Boy and Mind The Gap entered the stage late to make any difference to the result but should not linger in the company of three-year-old maidens for long.

Liesl (C Rajendra up), winner of the Royal Tern Trophy

Earlier in the day, Princess Charming (Conquering Hero-Atlantic Charm) just about managed to pip Twin Power at the post and also keep Chasing Destiny at bay. Twin Power struggled hard initially to grab the lead from Carrie and despite the liberal use of the whip by apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh, Twin Power had to taste defeat. It was the good fortune of the punters, it must be said, for had jockey R. Rupesh been a little more enterprising atop Chasing Destiny the favourite was surely doomed for disaster.

Punters had to pay through their noses for the "race framing" exercise undertaken by the handicapper for the third consecutive race meeting. The Abundant Plate took shape after Sangramsinh Joshi entered four horses and Magansingh Jodha also helped the club’s cause by providing three runners. The betting however concentrated on Rich Treat and Montana but it was Teaser who put in an astounding gallop in the hands of D. G. Shanker to earn his corn bill. Later, Blue Butterfly (Tecorno-Rustle of Spring) was ridden confidently by Towfeeq to survive the onslaught of Charging Rhino as the mare sent out by Sorab Jilla spared a neck to his rival.

Radical Velocity (McCullagh up), winner of the Autumn Blue Plate