Patience is a virtue of the courageous and it certainly pays to have one while dealing with the fate of young thoroughbreds. Dr Anil Kumar showed abundant patience when confronted by the rather disappointing performance produced by his charge One O One in the two graded races, the General Rajendrasinhji Trophy and S.A. Poonawalla Million, run at Pune and won by two classy horses, Artois and Estonia, belonging to RWITC chairman Khushroo Dhunjibhoy. It would’ve been very difficult for him to digest this unsettling kind of display after that encouraging and gratifying success in the Ahmed Abbas Million. Anil Kumar took the reversal in his stride and rested One O One only to put him in the fray on Thursday in the Municipal Commissioner’s Trophy. Entrusting the Tirol progeny to Naill McCullagh was another wise decision he took before the race. The result: A three-length victory over favourite Queen Ernest. Naill McCullagh was impeccable, as usual, in the saddle atop One O One.
It was Altaf Hussain-saddled Queen Ernest and not One O One who garnered maximum support in the betting market. The Greensmith out of Classically Noble filly fought an early dispute with True Thriller till the heads turned for home and where C. Rajendra tried to break free from the pack. His intentions were foiled as Naill decided to take the battle into the rival’s camp by giving One O One his head. Queen Ernest fought out valiantly but One O One got stronger as the winning post came within reach. Dazzling Queen failed to concede weight to her rivals and only managed to save place money from Temple Tune.
Rajendra, however, got an armchair ride to victory astride Fair Always, another three-year-old filly sent out earlier in the day by Altaf Hussain. The daughter of Alnasr Alwasheek out of Si Senorita was always travelling on the bit in the last but one slot in the five-horse field, which was headed by Ungaro. Coming into the straight, Fair Always stretched out magnificently to leave her rivals stranded.
Truly Scrumptious from ex-jockey Hanut Singh’s yard may’ve lost steam in the bookie’s arena but gave a tenacious performance on the racetrack. Being drawn on the outside did not make any difference to her as P. Kamlesh got to settle her in the fourth position and made his move with little over a furlong left for home. The Sir Bruce filly responded gallantly and retraced her steps towards the winner’s enclosure after languishing in wait for almost a year. After being in the vanguard for much of the journey, Daisy Cutter gave a doleful show to end up in the dump.
Pesi Shroff astride Sunlord carved a half-length victory over favourite Leopardess and it was only a marvellous effort from the erstwhile champion that made it possible. The use of a tongue-strap proved beneficial for the Shiraz Sunderji-nursed three-year-old gelding by Razeen out of Allinda and so did the decision to discard blinkers that didn’t help in any of his three runs at Pune. Pesi seized the initiative from I’m Sensational even as Leopardess was struggling to find room to make her run. By the time she got that opportunity, Pesi had the race well sewn up in a skilful manner. Leopardess fell short by half-length at the wire. Hormuz Antia-ward Rise showed good improvement to finish third ahead of Eglevsky. Roofer, one of the fancied runners, remained aloof from the battle scene.
Fire Dancer and Bellagio, both beneficiaries of the handicapper’s benevolence, were going over their ‘right’ distance and they got due support in the ring. Fire Dancer obliged by making every post a winning one in the hands of S. N. Chavan. Bellagio was at the wrong end till the bend but the ace from Don Surti’s barns essayed a smooth run towards the inner rails and went on strike gold in the hands of apprentice R.K. Mahesh. Communicator never recovered after the check he received from Courageous at the turn and finished far behind the winner. Hiccups ran a forward race and should gain from this experience.
Lesser-fancied Natural Dancer logged the solitary upset win of the day in the Basque Plate where favourite Royally Talented broke down after having travelled just over 100m from the starting gates. The debutant from Faisal Abbas had to be put down on humanitarian grounds as he got himself hurt seriously after crashing into the false rails. Brave Beauty ran well to finish second with Hope Floats and Yvresse completing the frame.
