Cooji Katrak’s star performer Olympico overshadows barn-mate Bayonne’s flop show with a spectacular win

By Usman Rangila

Mumbai
Wednesday 31, December, 2003

Ever since he led in Aldeburgh to the winner’s enclosure on the inaugural day of the Mumbai season, Cooji Katrak has been in the news almost consistently. During his current stint, Cooji has not only shown a positive mindset but has also managed to curb his usual chicanery instinct. Looking at Cooji of the present era one gets a feel of a man with a mission to show the racing world his calibre and also the feats that he is capable of achieving. The question of how he could resist the temptations of displaying these qualities in the years past does not baffle much as the obvious reasons have always been out in the open as far as racing in Western India is concerned.

As the year 2003 was drawing to a close, Cooji remained on the profitable side having saddled two hits, Cornelia Supra and Olympico. He had two failures in his bag too. One of these flops included Bayonne on whom the odds took a dramatic swing in the betting ring.

It would be only apt to keep Bayonne’s flop-show aside for a moment and bestow due credit to Olympico, the star performer from Cooji Katrak’s yard, who won the hearts of his admirers with another gallant performance. The bay three-year-old brought in-foal to Rio Anna, and who is by Wild Zone, registered a hat-trick of wins before he turned four in the record books. The exploits of Olympico are nothing but spectacular as it took him just little over three weeks to accomplish this feat. Olympico produced an astounding gallop in all his three runs, the last one being in Class II. 

Naill McCullagh astride Cats Whiskers was well aware that the only possibility to conquer Olympico in the Sweet Memories Trophy lay in stealing an early march in the straight. Naill put this plan into action as he took charge from Mister Fixit when the seven-horse field straightened for home. The lead established by Cats Whiskers could not provided the much-needed cushion against any foreseeable assault after C. Rajendra switched gears on Olympico. The bay reproduced that electrifying run for which he is become famous for and came roaring down the track to pin down Cats Whiskers close home. Divine Intervention, despite closing in on the leaders, could not sparkle in the end due the excruciating need of galloping ground plus the lack of exposure.

Bred as half-sister to the Class I filly Kia Ora, Bayonne, who had run in the 2000 Guineas just ten days earlier, was quoted at around even-money in the lower division of the Winning Heart Plate. When the betting shops opened in the ring, the odds went soaring for no apparent reason so much so that the bookies offered 10 to 8 on for Bayonne to place in the nine-horse field. Few were surprised to see Bayonne running a poor fifth. Meanwhile, Narendra Lagad’s decoy Latest News fetched a handsome price for his stable-mate Island Pearl. However, destiny continued to be cruel to the grey filly who found Hidden Rainbow coming with a devastating run and playing spoilsport.

Cornelia Supra provided some succour to Malesh Narredu by making a winning debut in the J. Rustomji Soparivala Trophy. The task of the Diffident filly out of College Princess may’ve been made somewhat easier by the withdrawal of Wild Spirit at the gates. The bay midget filly showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals and the attempts to catch her by the wayward Lara Croft proved futile. A strong finish by Bajrang Singh atop Imtiaz Sait trained Aerosat deprived Malesh and Cooji another win. Despite devouring ground in the home stretch Aguilas was a neck shy of Aerosat in a three-horse photo-finish. Rewarding Moment, who led almost all the way over the derby trip found the winning post eluding him nearer home when Aerosat swept past her two rivals.

Storm Ahead (Storm Trooper-Zelka) and Inner Secret (Inner City-Slendrella) were both impressive winners in their respective events. The Hormuz Antia candidate carried top weight and S.P. Ranjane in the saddle for a comprehensive win over his five rivals. Sanjay Kolse-saddled Inner Secret found the shortest way home and accelerated so well that he put daylight between him and his nearest rival Sunlord.

Akash, a failed favourite in his last essay, wore his galloping shoes on this occasion to register a profitable win for Irene Patel. Fire Power capitulated in the end stages of the race to finish third behind Charging Rhino. Donegal Bay sent out by Rehanullah Khan in the concluding event left nothing to chance as Naill took the speedy son of Dark Nile on a successful pillar-to-post mission. Cape Vaticano ran on after a lethargic start to finish second ahead of Kimberley Star, who seemed to have saved her best for some other day.