Indian Derby remains wide open after Simply Supreme's runaway win in the RR Ruia Gold Cup
By Usman Rangila

Mumbai
January 11, 2003

Simply Supreme from the yards of Sorab Jilla simply cantered away with the Ramnivas Ramnarain Ruia Gold Cup, the main attraction of Sunday’s card and which was to serve as an eye-opener for the forthcoming McDowell Indian Derby. Hardly an eye-opener it was. Nobody ventured to say that the result provided any clue and everybody played safe in predicting that the biggest event of the Indian racing calendar remains wide open for now. Meanwhile, the clubbing of the North India Derby and two other races of Hyderabad with Western India’s card gave a feeling of that ‘bhelpuri’ or ‘khichadi’ was being served as Sunday’s fare.

The RR Ruia Cup, however, had a star-studded field in the fray, which included Zurburan’s half brother Artois, Classical Act’s full sister Exuberant, along with Radical Force’s half brother Road Runner. Then there were Capture The Moment, Grosvenor Square and King Of The Hearts, the dams of whom have thrown classic winners in the past. 

There was hardly any stir when Simply Supreme, with Samuel Fargeat in saddle, slipped into the lead when the field of ten settled down after a furlong from the start. He had Glensanda and Grosvenor Square in close attendance with the favourite Artois ridden well off the pace by Malesh Narredu. There was no change in the order except for Artois creeping up to join the issue opposite the grand stands. But Simply Supreme (Razeen-Allesca) was in no mood to relent and remained beyond the reach of Glensanda, Grosvenor Square and Artois, who finished in close order. Glensanda couldn’t get up to challenge the winner and so did Grosvenor Square. Artois showed no great acceleration when ending fourth. Artois’ fitness continues to remain a grey area although his connections express confidence that the three-week gap, before the D-day arrives, could change his fortunes.

The colours of Dr MAM Ramaswamy were in full flow as the first two events of the day were captured by Amazing Strides and Forcing Bid who were both ridden to fluent victories by C. Rajendra. The former, who is by Razeen out of Wayward Lady, managed to keep Classy Devil, who for a change took a level jump from the gates, at bay. Jockey Bhagwan Singh astride the grey mare found himself cramped for room close home when he was about to launch his assault. Forcing Bid (Razeen-Altitude) made amends for his failure on debut by annihilating Born Destiny and Mint Master. The former tried to usurp the race by adopting runaway tactics that came to an abrupt halt when Forcing Bid got into his stride.

Tide of Fortune (Diffident-Mary Bankes) won untroubled in the Commoner Trophy after Naill McCullagh decided to call the shots right from the word go. The Altaf Hussain-trained mare won comfortably from Premier Classe, Senor Pele and Exploding Wonder, who were all in futile chase of the winner. Naill completed a back-to-back double aboard the Bangalore-challenger Blurr, who graduated from the maiden ranks with the rich haul of the Dashmesh & Hargobind Stud Futurity Stakes. Lilac Queen made her move precisely at the same juncture where the Michael Eshwer-nurtured daughter of Glory of Dancer was put in top gear but she couldn’t go any further. Starynsky and Magical Sunset failed to make any impression on the winner but ran on to complete the judges’ frame.

Rajendra completed a treble for himself and a double for Altaf Hussain when he powered Ravissant to a narrow victory over Nota Bene and Dare To Dream. The chestnut son of Placerville was threatened by the latter about a furlong away home but he could not match strides with the winner and even surrendered the runner-up slot to Nota Bene, who came from way back and made steady progress in the home stretch. Nota Bene needed this outing badly and should be entering the winner’s enclosure soon.

Malesh’s strong finish aboard Truth Prevails saw him end the day on a winning note. The candidate from Hormuz Antia’s string came with raking strides to snub outsider Pearl Harbour, who had stolen a march over his rivals at the bend. The lion-hearted Checkmate also came into contention close home but was not able to collar his young rivals. Grand Finale played up at the start and it seemed like her jockey was not alert when the starter’s flag came down. Though Grand Finale finished down the field it would be prudent to ignore this run where she couldn’t do any justice to her ability.