The day’s proceedings began on a farcical note. Of the five horses declared for the Barood Plate, Sea Nymph was permitted to be withdrawn on veterinary grounds even before the commercial race cards could hit the stands. When the field of four reached the starting gates, the acting veterinary officer of the RWITC found something amiss with the 10 to 5 on favourite Baba’s Gift and did not permit him to race as the gelding was trotting lame. With Swift Silver not keen on jumping out from the gates, it was left to Flirtatious and Land Lady settle the issue among themselves. Land Lady did steal a march over his lone rival close home but Flirtatious rallied well to outwit her near the post.
Jockey Chris Lemaire is enjoying his first visit to India like nobody else and seems to be in an upbeat mood these days. And why not since he is regularly hitting the bulls-eye for various connections. Chris was a picture of confidence astride Noble Eagle
(Alnasr Alwasheek-Zografi) who claimed the inaugural Bertolli & Barilla Trophy. Chris then associated himself with the maiden success of Subhag Singh-saddled filly Pure Cream
(Broto-Marie De Chantilly) who was making on the repair list during the Pune season and was making the only second appearance of her career.
Chris lay in wait astride Noble Eagle on the haunches of Treasure Seeker and pounced on the leader about a furlong or so from home. The dark bay gelding from M. K. Jadhav’s yard won untroubled though Singita came with a long-stretched run to finish second. Accessory
(Steinbeck-Alberta) was seen galloping well when the race was all over bar the shouting. Accessory was at the tail end of the field when the heads turned for home and Aslam Kader was forced to bring him ten horses wide to make his final bid. Both Singita and Accessory should win when saddled next in maiden company.
Zadmal Singh also had a brace of winners in Line of Control and Al
Humair. Zadmal pulled off a silent coup with Line of Control (Rebounding Thrill-Ardent Wish) after entrusting the five-year-old to T. Bernard. Line of Control finished on powerfully to foil both Track Emotions and Frontier Flame (late The Gladiator). The former was a bit rusty after being out of action for nearly three months but for which she would have surely won.
Al Humair (Alnasr Alwasheek-Ablaze) zoomed past Dillinger and Millennium King when given his head by C.
Rajendra. Al Humair stretched out well to keep Dazzling Gold at arms length. Jockey P. S.
Chouhan, who replaced Aslam Kader in the saddle aboard the runner-up, failed to give a smooth ride to the Bezan Chenoy candidate. There was some inspired betting on the Cooji Katrak ward Reconquista but Malesh Narredu had to labour hard atop the filly to save place money.
Both Cooji and Malesh were to find solace in Lisianski immediately. Lisianski
(Tecorno-Mrs Rose), unlike the previous occasion when she opened favourite and later lost support in the betting ring, did not stray either in the betting or on the track. Lisianski carved a narrow victory over Nothing Better and Exhilarating.
Trainer Jaggy Dhariwal finally found some succour via Self Styled in the General Obaidullah Khan Trophy. After allowing Reflecting and Altazano to lead in the early stages, Self Styled (Placerville-Lyrical Fantasy) took over the mantle and kept going in the hands of Mark Gallagher. Bookie’s Delight took some stick from McCullagh but failed to catch up with the winner.
Veteran Saeed Shah-trained Kraft, who finished third in the Pune Derby, was largely expected to earn a bracket in the Class IV handicap event but that was not to be. The son of Procida appeared to be on the right course when Malesh Narredu took him on a pillar to post mission but was made to suffer humiliation by Arti Doctor-saddled Tactful.
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