Fierce
competition was witnessed in five out of the six trophy races
run on Sunday. Trainer Cooji Katrak started the day’s
proceedings with a bang and rolled out three winners in a row.
Though he was rather unfortunate not to won with Lek and
Queenscliff. Cooji’s other runner Aurelia also gave a
heart-warming performance to finish a close third in the last
race.
Cooji first hit the bull’s-eye with Radical Force, who made
every post of the Prabalo Plate a winning one. Such was the
superiority of the son of Alnasr Alwasheek out of Aroma that
jockey P. Kamlesh had an armchair ride throughout the
mile-and-a-quarter journey.
Despite running with a slight shin problem, debutante Charlie
Parker (Tecorno-Badedra) put in a sustained run to cut River
Rainbow down to size at the winning line. The daughter of Always
A Rainbow got straight down to business with B. Prakash in
saddle as the gates flew open and appeared coasting home for her
maiden success till Niall McCullagh ranged alongside in the last
half-furlong or so. It was a touch-and-go affair in the last
four strides that both River Rainbow and Charlie Parker took
towards the post but Niall’s resolute finish frustrated the
filly. Rambus raised no sweat when bowling along merrily in the
front and taking home the Elegance Trophy with consummate ease.
To stay put in the saddle aboard the son of Placerville out of
Lap of Luxury was all that P. Kamlesh was required to do and the
rest was plain sailing.
Yet again it was trainer Shiraz Sunderji’s astute placing that
saw Destiny Calling (Don’t Forget Me-I Am Calling You) give a
rousing performance on her way to a quick encore. The
four-year-old bay filly cut an erratic path for sure but was
always travelling better than her rivals. It was in the light of
this fact that the stipes decided to overrule the protests
lodged by both Pesi Shroff (Mille Fiori) and B. Prakash (Amazing
Dream) against Malcolm Kharadi for interference. However,
Malcolm failed to balance himself astride Destiny Calling but
for which he wouldn’t have faced the hassle of appearing
before the stewards and probably in the end would’ve had
something more in reserve. As Mille Fiori was contesting after
three months, and had been sent out only thrice for fast morning
work recently, it was asking a bit too much from the Placerville
progeny.
It was once again the steely resolve shown by Irishman Niall
McCullagh that largely contributed to success of Dazzling Gold
in the Betsetgo Trophy. Coming from the wide draw and hopelessly
placed in the straight, Dazzling Gold manoeuvred his way to join
Lek who shot into the lead in the final furlong. Apprentice J.
Chinoy timed his run well astride Lek but found the skills of
his foreign counterpart a shade better at the finish.
Cooji Katrak, who was still smarting under Lek’s narrow
defeat, had the misfortune of witnessing his ward Queenscliff go
down by half-a-length to the lion-hearted Strengthtostrength in
the Astonish Trophy. The speedy daughter of Razeen out of Tick
Tock had grabbed the lead from Green Paradise opposite the
stands but failed to sustain as the game galloper from
Rehanullah Khan’s yard collared her close home. C. Lemaire
rode a neat race atop the son of Farajullah out of Powerglide.
As Aslam Kader slowed down the pace after hitting the front with
Austral, Safari Girl assumed control of the running and was on
the right course till she ran out of gas in the final two
furlongs. The Jaggy Dhariwal-trained property of Dr. Vijay
Mallya had come in for some inspired support in the betting ring
to wrest favouritism from Stilleto Xpress but gave a dismal show
instead. Stilleto Xpress too ran below par to beat only one home
that was none other than Safari Girl. Austral took command after
chasing Safari Girl all the time and never came under threat
from any of his rivals. Arctic Star gave no encouraging
performance to hold Aurelia for the runner-up berth. The
leisurely manner in which Aurelia ran for most of the journey
indicates that she would be in business when running over a trip
of at least mile-and-a-quarter.
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