Though Amazing One was driven hard, with jockey Srinath making free
use of the whip, the favourite could not bridge the gap and ended up a
tame second. Attorney showed that he had not lost his zest for racing,
with a late surge to be third. Magical Spirit, who was widely expected
to be in the thick of things, was a spent force much before the race
took a serious turn.
Jockey Suraj Narredu had Royal Scandal ahead of the pack as the
starter dispatched the field for the mile long trip, with West Coast
Eagle and Amazing One racing in close attendance along with Magical
Spirit. The rest were spaced out behind these runners. Rounding the
final bend, Royal Scandal showed no signs of slackening and held on to
the lead comfortably under the strong urging of Suraj Narredu. Amazing
One failed to pick up speed at any stage of the race and had to be
satisfied with the runner up berth. While West Coast Eagle had all the
chances, he faded out under pressure.
Darius Byramji, who saddled Royal Scandal, had a double for the day
with Romantic Scene recording a facile win over a mile in the Star of
Mysore Gold Cup. The first four fancied runners in the race namely
Read My Mind, Romantic Scene, Millford and My Friend Paul were all
sired by China Visit. Read My Mind had more takers than Romantic Scene
on the basis of his track work. Romantic Scene, who had won a race
over five and a half furlongs before faring poorly against a superior
opposition (Astrea won that race from Our Excellencee), was ideally
placed to strike over this extended trip as her maiden win suggested
that she would be at home over longer trips.
Read My Mind led the field along with Millford while Romantic Scene
was settled in the third or fourth position. Millford had the first
run on his opponents and went into a good even as Read My Mind
faltered. In the meanwhile, Romantic Scene smoothly moved up on the
outside and essayed a strong challenge to the front-runner. Local
Warrior moved with a flourish along the rails to join issue. But the
anticipated finish did not come through as Romantic Scene sped away
from Local Warrior to record a facile win.
The price on Smart Falcon dramatically shortened close to race time as
Havana and Suave did not have many takers. Jockey Prakash raced Smart
Falcon in a handy position before gaining places approaching the final
bend and getting the son of Reach The Gold to stretch away from the
field in the final furlong. Havana ran on to finish second ahead of
Ride And Shine while Suave failed to sustain his challenge after being
prominent.
Prakash ended with a trouble for the day as he had no difficulty in
steering Sensuous Touch to a facile win. Sensuous Touch proved too
good for the opposition, winning as she pleased. Prakash’s other win
came through Ancient Princess who was not hard-pressed by the
opposition.
There was inspired for Choya who was backed spiritedly in the day’s
opener but the daughter of Glory of Dancer made no show as Zangi won
at nourishing odds. Jockey Ashwin Rao managed to guide Simply
Dangerous to a comfortable win in the V B Ramachandran Memorial Cup.
Shisham led the field into the straight and shaped to win but the
filly started to drift out and took Simply Dangerous along. However,
Ashwin Rao managed to check his mount and steered clear of the trouble
as the front-runner drifted into the sand track. Simply Dangerous was
brought to the centre of the track to get going and the third
favourite devoured ground to beat Anoosheek whose jockey appeared to
believe that he had the race in his pocket after having got the
measure of Sangini. In the day’s concluding race, Right Fantasy
brought off a stunning upset, winning as she pleased, her performance
getting a boost by the soft underfoot conditions which she clearly
relished.
