The three-year-old colt Running Star, assisted in the saddle by C.
Rajendra, made a winning reappearance on the Mahalaxmi racetracks,
scoring a smashing victory in a seven-furlong Class III race on
Thursday last. By forcing his eleven rivals into meek submission,
this bay from schooler Zadmal Singh’s yard proved that the
self-imposed eight-month long hiatus has neither blunted his
potential nor taken any sheen off his ability.
Mallesh Narredu-piloted
Cryptonite, who was next in demand to Running Star, expectedly ran
second and was followed home by the hard-ridden Sunny Sez and
Helianthus. All three horses to finish behind Running Star were,
in fact, on a reconnaissance mission with their riders more
interested in having a first-hand look into the intensity of the
challenge the winner is likely to confront them with in the near
future.
This was
incidentally Running Star’s third success from four career
starts and his lone defeat has come at the hands of Six Speed in
the Y. M. Chaudhary Memorial Million.
The bay son of
Promising by Alnasr Alwasheek, with this stylish victory, has
stormed into the classics’ scene, the stage for which will be
set with the running of the Kingfisher Indian 1000 Guineas on
Sunday, December 17. And Running Star promises to take the battle
for the McDowell Indian 2000 Guineas into the rival camps and he
has sure made everybody sit up and take notice of him.
Close on the heels
of the splendid show put up by Running Star, came Pesi Shroff’s
superb handling of Winning Girl that turned out to be the deciding
factor in the filly’s battle with Fire Girl. Pesi delighted his
fans by the forceful display of his skills in the saddle astride
got-abroad filly trained by Nana Raghunath by successfully
spurning the assault launched by the favourite entrusted to
apprentice I.Shaikh. Fire Girl, however, redeemed herself with a
runaway victory on Sunday.
John Stack continues
to treat all racing buffs with his dazzling display of artistry in
the saddle. He had one winner each atop Stone Ridge and Knighted,
which he rode on Thursday and Sunday respectively. The former had
an easy passage to the winner’s enclosure but Naill McCullagh-piloted
Princess Xena tested both John Stack and Knighted on Sunday. John
appeared quite unfazed when the favourite ranged alongside in the
straight and remained so when both horses went hammer and tong.
This gritty performance from the rider enabled the son of Chief
Crown out of Sea Basque to notch his third career victory.
Knighted has bloomed late but more will be heard of this bay
gelding who hails from the yards of Dallas Todywalla. Princess
Xena was certainly not disgraced in her defeat and lives to fight
for yet another day. Inquisition, the chestnut daughter of General
Charge by Affirmed, failed in her bid to achieve a hat-trick and
ran far below expectations to come fourth behind Tap On Power.
The juggernaut of
Rajendra has just started to roll on with the champion rider
boosting his winning tally by five this week. Besides Running
Star, Rajendra had fairly comfortable rides to victory astride
Terrestrial, Zillion Figlia, Star Wish, and Queen of Romance.
Punters suffered a
big setback after the unexpected win of Numero Uno in the curtain
raiser on Sunday. Silver Nova, Sherdil and Waltzing Matilda were
the highly fancied ones to win this race, but only Sherdil from
this fancied trio graced the finish. The rest two were simply not
in the hunt.
It appears that
trainer Raza Ali had kept himself busy learning a few cheap tricks
of a magician during his suspension period. Hardly a month has
passed since Raza Ali’s reinstatement as a trainer, and the
veteran decided to test his newly acquired skills. He successfully
conducted the vanishing act of Waltzing Matilda with C. Rajendra
in the saddle. He then tried to produce a rabbit in Snow Star from
his magic-hat. Somehow, this trick didn’t work as
bottom-weighted Honest Lady foiled his intentions.
Earlier, on
Thursday, we had jockey Tony Bernard inviting trouble for himself
as the Stipendiary Stewards took him to task for not showing any
inclination to win astride Millennium King who lost by a close
margin to Mallesh Narredu-ridden Hariasva. The latter was a rage
in the betting ring with money flowed in only one direction but
punters should count themselves lucky for collecting dividends
along with their investments. It is reported that Bernard will be
off on a holiday for a month.
Two-year-old Star
Wish (Don’t Forget Me – Double Wish) made an impressive debut
in the hands of C. Rajendra. The Shiraz Sunderji saddled debutant
got straight down to business as the starters flag came down and
was never in any danger of being caught by his opponents. The
overnight favourite Kazakh kissed goodbye to his chances in the
gates itself and ended a dismal last. Mallesh Narredu finally
warmed up after two failures and got Gold Dust to oblige her
supporters. Cristina came with a late run to end second but that
was all about it.
Nirad Karanjawalla-trained
filly Sonalika (No Louder – Pot of Gold) sprung another surprise
over her Class I rivals to win the prestigious A. C. Ardeshir
Trophy (Gr.2). Jockey S. Rajesh stuck to his task brilliantly to
tide over the late bid produced by Star Fortune. Aslam Kader
astride Al Dente looked menacing at one stage but the favourite
could not accelerate thereafter and ended third. With Imtiaz Sait
preferring to be in Hyderabad where The Proletarian was running,
Top Mover was understandably not interested in giving his best.
The son of Topanoora lay at the wrong end of the field till the
turn and despite his best efforts, jockey Rajendra could not cloak
Top Mover’s talent as he moved on to grab the fifth spot, a
little over two lengths behind winner Sonalika.
