Noble Opinion spikes Affability's hopes in virtually the last couple of strides
By Usman Rangila
Noble Opinion, the underdog from among the quartet of horses running in Dr M. A. M. Ramaswamy’s colours, produced a scintillating run in the hands of B. Prakash to catch runaway leader Affability at the wire in the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multimillion. As the 14-horse field for the seven-furlong richest juvenile event in the country was flagged-off, Affability tore away from the barriers and caught her rivals on the wrong foot for sure. Basking in the glory of her dazzling speed, the Jaggy Dhariwal-saddled chestnut filly almost emulated her half sister Six Speed in winning the rich stakes for Dr Vijay Mallya.
But jockey B. Prakash and Noble Opinion had other ideas in mind. The yawning gap between him and Affability in the last furlong and a half failed to deter Prakash from going after the leader. Noble Opinion slowly but surely found his rhythm and moved like a predator towards Affability. Finding Prakash and Noble Opinion breathing down his neck, Pesi took the last resort in pulling out his whip. But Noble Opinion had the measure of Affability for good, in precisely the last two strides he took. A long way back came Queenscliff to grab the third position from Iceberg. Starsky, Snow Dew, The Pelican, Terrestrial and Imperial Legend were reduced to a pack of also-rans.
On his way back to the photo-finish drill, Pesi Shroff gave a piece of his mind to a couple of media-photographers who set their shops close to the grass track. Pesi is known to be a sporting loser. So when you see him cribbing after a loss, you know that there has to some good reason behind it. Though he refused to make any comment on the incident after the race, Pesi’s gestures suggested that Affability’s shying away at the post had to do something with the cameramen. Pesi was also seen complaining about this incident to the senior stipe but it does not find any mention in the Race Day report.
A top draw performance from Pesi had earlier enabled Torres achieve his maiden success in Western India. At one stage in the home stretch, the bay gelding in Imtiaz Sait’s care appeared fighting a losing battle against Inimitable who had been taken on a start to finish mission by Niall McCullagh. But the moment Sanaga ranged alongside Torres, the latter put in a sustained run to collar Inimitable and then stave off the challenge of Sanaga.
Sporting the same colours as Noble Opinion, Abbeydoran showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals to win the Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy. Raziya, who had shown plenty of promise in her preparatory runs, ran sluggishly to the dismay of her supporters and ended up playing the roles of bridesmaid on debut.
The lung-opener he had on Derby day got Fantasy Star fit enough to strike in the mile long Enrico Plate. Niall McCullagh rode an impeccable race that proved a bit too much to the liking of his opponents. Both Avantage and Anxious Moments managed to earn place money.
Despite carrying top weight in the Jasdanwalla Trophy, Desert Pride literally gave a thrashing to her rivals which included the runner-up Anagram. Crowning Moment for some unknown reason found support in the betting but was clearly out-handicapped. The five-year-old son of Placerville, who provided trainer Altaf Hussain and jockey McCullagh a well-deserved double, took the shortest route home and raced away for a stylish encore.
Even after Soviet Ride had bolted riderless from the gates, trainer Dhariwal used his discretion to race him in the Commoner Trophy. Not surprisingly did the joint favourite fail to grace the finish. Benefiting from the able handling of jockey Satish Narredu, Secret Blessings lasted out to win from Safarando who reportedly returned lame after the race. Prince Nicholas was nowhere as brilliant his last run in which he had raised hopes of an early victory.
Improving further after her maiden triumph, Café Au Lait went on to register an encore for Micheal Eshwer in the Her Excellency Trophy. Come Prima laboured hard to finish second ahead of Millenium Star who had flattered for a brief while.
It was one-way traffic as far as money coming on True Thriller in the betting ring was concerned and the bay son of Mulhollande lived upto the expectations of his connections. Consortium and Mille Fiori could only find consolation in placing behind the winner.
Both Great Alliance and Moonlight Kisses showed improvement far beyond the grasp of the followers of form to win their respective events. And yet again, though not surprisingly, the RWITC authorities have confined themselves to being "bystanders". The reasons forwarded by the connections have merely been "noted" — a chore that is being regularly performed by the RWITC stipendiary stewards’ during the course of their duties.
Adding the alphabet ‘e’ to his name, the use of blinkers and more importantly a bunch of uninterested opponents were the factors that contributed to the maiden success of Demedicie. The S. S. Shah ward found an untroubled passage to glory as the tiring card of eleven races wound up.
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