The
Placerville out of Natural Craze gelding was down but surely not
out of the game. The same can be said of his master M. K. Jadhav
who gave his candidate all the time to recover from the agony.
As The Pelican slowly retraced his steps to fitness, Jadhav
straightaway entered him in the 2000 Guineas. Despite being
short of exposure, The Pelican gave an encouraging performance
to finish fourth behind Wild Eagle, Ansbach and Tobler. The
Frenchman Chris Lemaire worked the chestnut regularly in the
morning trials and after his Guineas run; the connections of The
Pelican formed an opinion that using blinkers could help him
perform better. Perform better he did and in doing so he
overshadowed his illustrious rivals.
The
Pelican found himself in the front as the starters flag came
down but Lemaire settled him and allowed Royal Amaretto, who was
brushed up by R. Rupesh, to show the way. The chestnut was
always running in striking position behind Royal Amaretto till
the field of nine came into the view for the final run in. The
pacemaker for Starsky bowed out and handed over the baton to The
Pelican who went sailing into the lead. The riders of River God,
Tobler and Starsky shifted gears on their respective mounts but
the acceleration shown by The Pelican put paid to their hopes.
With this victory under his belt, The Pelican will definitely
prove to be a worthy opponent for Snow Dew, Wild Eagle and
Ansbach who are the frontline contenders for the blue riband of
Indian racing.
Earlier
El Campeador, Vinayak’s original candidate for the R. R. Ruia
Cup, chalked his fourth career success by sparing a length to
Pleasure Hunt at the post. The runner-up closed the gap on the
leader in the straight but the son of Serious Spender out of
Abid’ance did not let his guard down and kept going under
Malesh Narredu’s whip. El Campeador will probably spearhead
the battle of Khushroo Dhunjibhoy’s camp in the Indian Derby.
The
grey filly Ice Magic (Placerville-Frost Queen), who is bred as
full sister to Iceberg, made a winning debut in the Winning
Heart Plate but not before giving some anxious moments to the
handlers at the start and also causing a painful injury to
jockey Aslam Kader by rearing up in the gates (Aslam could not
fulfil his third assignment of the day and also his engagements
to ride in the classics at Bangalore and Kolkata later on).
Aslam was rendered flat on the turf after he banged into the
stalls and got hurt near the bottom of his spine. Despite the
nagging pain, Aslam got up courageously to partner the filly
from Bezan Chenoy’s yard. The grey showed a clean pair of
heels to her rivals though Aslam had to summon all his skills to
keep Forest Angel and Exploding Wonder at bay. Verzanno served
notice of an early win when she finished a close fourth just a
neck behind Exploding Wonder.
With
Pesi Shroff and C’est Egal gracing the opposite end of the
field till the final furlong as the curtains went up on
Wednesday, Tactful from Arti Doctor’s yard made steady
improvement in the straight to swoop on dicky-legged Waleshan at
the post. The winning post came a bit too soon for C’est Egal
for, by the time Pesi could switch Jaggy Dhariwal’s filly to
the fast lane, Tactful and Waleshan had already hit the wire.
Racing
in the famed colours of the Poonawalla family, Scarlet Lake
played truant yet again. The four-year-old filly trained by
Altaf Hussain, lost all her chances at the gates itself. Only
those indulging in wishful thinking gave the filly a winning
chance after seeing her parade in the paddocks. Her condition
was nowhere near placing leave alone winning the race. Going by
their reputation in ensuring that any horse running in the
Poonawallas’ colours is fit as a fiddle, it is surprising that
they allowed Scarlet Lake to contest. T. S. Jodha-ridden
Original obliged those in the know. Overtures and Mischiefmaker
made a futile attempt to overhaul the winner and followed her
home. Way Beyond earned a rare success for trainer Amjad Khan
while Amorous Warrior and Fortune’s Wheel increased the
suffering of the punters.