Despite giving a firm commitment to the fourth estate that no races will be “framed” once they are declared void at acceptance stage, the RWITC Stewards of the Club have apparently gone back on their words. The handicapper has been framing one or two races virtually on every race day right from the start of the Pune season 2003 and the procedure is being followed religiously during the current season. Except for giving some respectability to the day’s card, which otherwise is reduced to five or six events, this exercise is nothing but meaningless in every which sense the club may want to imply.
There are scores of races that have been framed for this cause in the past but the most recent case in point is the running of the Enrico Trophy. This race was originally advertised as the Thumbelina Trophy in the club’s prospectus but was declared void at acceptance stage due to paucity of runners. On the standing instructions of the administration, the handicapper gave birth to the Enrico Trophy. The sole beneficiary of this exercise was Hunan, who is owned by RWITC chairman Khushroo Dhunjibhoy and trained by Vinayak. Since the outcome of this race was a forgone conclusion, there was hardly any betting in the race both on the totes and in the bookie’s ring.
Is it economically viable for the club to conduct such lacklustre events that not only are a waste of time but also one of the reasons why people are losing interest in this sport? The answer is no, yet the club continues to function in a Quixotic manner and is hardly bothered about the criticism it evokes. For records sake, Hunan (Alnasr Alwasheek-Great Request) shed the maiden ranks by giving an armchair ride to Malesh Narredu over the nine-furlong trip.
When Malesh Narredu decided to exploit Glensanda’s initial speed and seize the initiative from his six rivals in the Super Mile Trophy (Grade 3), it was surely a bad omen for the admirers of Brave Victor. The three-year-old chestnut gelding coming from the barns of veteran Bezan Chenoy, entrusted to Deepak Khaitan-retained and Kolkata-based rider Christopher Alford, possessed the credentials to win and was duly installed as the on-money favourite.
Both his victories at Pune had been accomplished through pillar to post missions and it was obvious that Brave Victor’s strength lay in setting his own pace. The chestnut son of Alnasr Alwasheek, therefore, found himself badly outpaced right from the moment the starter’s flag came down and never recovered from the setback despite Alford’s fervent attempts to regain his position.
The runaway tactics of Glensanda nearly paid off as Malesh stepped up the speed to shrug off the initial threat posed by Pesi Shroff-driven Sixty Seconds when they entered the home stretch. Super Strike, who was ridden off the pace till the bend, started to devour ground when Rajendra alerted him to his task. However, Rajendra had to rely heavily on his air-cushioned whip to dig deep into the reserves of Super Strike.
There was stunned silence on the lawns of Mahalaxmi as the bay son of Don’t Forget Me out of Worthwhile, who is vision-impaired in the right eye, got stronger at the finish to wear down Glensanda and also keep the fast finishing Exuberant at bay. There appeared to have been a slight error of judgment on the part of jockey Ronan Thomas whereby he got stuck towards the rails aboard Exuberant at a very crucial juncture of the race. Ronan was also hesitant to make his bid early and that probably cost the S. Padmanabhan-nurtured filly Exuberant, who is bred as full sister to Classical Act, a certain race. Nonetheless, the Shiraz Sunderji ward Super Strike deserves all credit for showing great character in this glorious victory. As mentioned earlier Brave Victor inflicted upon himself the ignominy of finishing off the frame while Sixty Seconds ended last in the field of six with Pesi pulling her up after finding something amiss.
Imtiaz Sait-trained filly All The Go once again let down a large following in the curtain raiser where Narendra Lagad trainee Eaglecrest went streaking clear of his rivals when the gates opened. At one stage, Eaglecrest was about a furlong ahead of the field and was being hailed as a winner before he started losing pace. Partner Perfect came with a flourish to earn his corn bill with All The Go having to be content with the third berth behind Eaglecrest after receiving some uncharacteristic support in the saddle from Rajendra.
Storm Alert, ridden by Bajrang Singh, almost suffered the same fate as her stable-partner Eaglecrest but the winning post came to her rescue as Camikara followed a zigzag route to join the issue. Joint favourites Essence of Dubai and Sweet Success both failed to accelerate when asked for an effort by their respective riders and finished in the rut.
By entering three juveniles in the fray, trainer Cooji Katrak ensured that the Fetchmefortune Plate did not go void. Magical Sunset, one of Cooji’s three runners and by far the best prepared of the lot, went wire to wire under the determined guidance of Naill McCullagh. Second favourite Strength And Honour ran a pathetic race. Blue Butterfly and Royal Divine made life miserable for the followers of big money later in the day.
