Adding some
more glory to his success, Wild Eagle humbled a couple of horses
that carried a ‘reputation’ into the race and whose
connections were gung-ho about their chances. Irish jockey Mark
Gallagher too deserves a certain amount of praise for he could
have not ridden a more perfect race astride the son of Don’t
Forget Me out of Tsar Maiden.
In a tactical
move, Shapoor Mistry-owned Star Wish set the initial pace for
Wild Eagle (who is bred at the Manjri Stud Farms) with Gallagher
settling his mount third behind Kazakh. As the heads turned for
home, Wild Eagle went cruising into the lead and the only danger
in sight was Bangalore-challenger Ansbach with Aslam Kader in
saddle. Though he is aware that Ansbach possesses a short dash
yet Aslam was gripped with a sense of urgency as he quickly went
after Wild Eagle. He could only get as far as the haunches of
Wild Eagle that too about a furlong from home. Gallagher tapped
into the reserves of Wild Eagle with a couple of backhanders and
the chestnut just flew towards the wire leaving his rivals in
the cold. The rest of the field was not only outpaced but was
simply outclassed by Wild Eagle. Tobler had the consolation of
finishing third ahead of The Pelican.
An hour later,
favourite Radical Force was pulled up by jockey Niall McCullagh
after having travelled just about a furlong of the
mile-and-a-quarter journey of the last race of the day. It was
only natural that punters started speculating about the
intentions of Radical Force’s connections; they were none
other than jockey McCullagh, Capt. Jamshed Appoo and trainer
Cooji Katrak.
"Just
after jumping out of the gates and having travelled 50mts or so,
I felt something snap behind the saddle. It was a distinct sound
and the first thing that came into my mind was that Radical
Force might have broken his leg. The horse started wobbling and
I gradually eased him up. Later, I dismounted and removed the
saddle and thought he might have to be put down. Even as these
thoughts raced through my mind, I started trotting the horse and
lo! He was trotting sound," informed Niall McCullagh while
speaking to correspondent after the race.
This unusual
incident saw the RWITC officials rushing to make their own
investigations. After a thorough examination of Radical Force,
the senior vet of the club could not find anything wrong with
the horse. It was a precarious situation for everybody.
Fortunately, the footage of one of the several video cameras
used for the live telecast of races showed that Radical Force
had suffered a temporary stifle-lock in the right-hind leg. The
connections of Radical Force heaved a big sigh of relief as they
narrowly escaped being put into the dock. Jaggy Dhariwal-saddled
Cajun King made most of the opportunity in this race and gave
apprentice J. Chinoy another victory to celebrate.
The bay
three-year-old filly Centenary brought in-foal to Legarto and
who is by Storm Bird has bloomed late but what a way to bloom.
The property of Dr Vijay Mallya made short work of her five
experienced rivals in the Shantidas Askuran Trophy. And unlike
her previous run, the Jaggy Dhariwal-nurtured filly raced from
the rear and won with a margin of comfort. So encouraged are the
connections of Centenary by her performance that they are now
eyeing the Indian Oaks.
The fitness
level of Dr M. A. M. Ramaswamy-owned debutante Our Dynasty (Razeen-Trois
Etoiles) saw her safely home in the Allah Rakhkha Trophy.
"Half-done" Sky Rocket (Diffident-Bazooka Babe) was
propelled into the lead by jockey Pesi Shroff, which made jockey
B. Prakash work a bit hard atop the winner. The runner-up made a
graceful exit and is bound to make an impact in her next
endeavour.
Mick’s
Mystique and Speedster gave vastly improved performances to win
towards the start of the day’s programme that consisted of
eleven races. The pattern of running of these two horses
certainly merits a look by Mr Chew & Co. The surge of power
displayed by Mark Gallagher atop Star Power (Brave Hunter-Save
The Future) tamed Celtic Son in the lower division of the F. K.
Vakil Trophy.
Lucky Strike (Alnasr
Alwasheek-Bazooka Babe), owned by the Poonawallas’, recorded
her second straight victory in the hands of Imran Shaikh.
Kraftwerk was hampered for room during the journey and still
managed to finish a game second. Surprisingly, the
"spark" shown by jockey C. Rajendra during the earlier
success of this Imtiaz Sait gelding, was missing on this
occasion.
The
fleet-footed Palazzio (Placerville-Stately Home) produced a
sparkling run in the home stretch to annihilate some speedy
customers based at this centre. The timing clocked by the
four-year-old filly saddled by Bezan Chenoy was just a fraction
of a second off the course record. Both Anacita and Super Sword
also proved far too speedy for their rivals. The former survived
the late onslaught of Alice Charms while the latter, after a
sluggish start, gradually came into his own to gain an overdue
victory.