SPLENDID SHOW BY FINE ARROW IN INDEPENDENCE TROPHY

Trainer Nirad Karanjawala and jockey B. Prakash cornered all the glory at the racecourse on Independence Day. A splendid show from Fine Arrow, a maiden gelding by Bold Russian out of Strange Signature, in the feature event that fetched these two professionals the honours of the day.

Judging the pace of the mile-and-a-quarter journey to a nicety, jockey B. Prakash timed his challenge to perfection astride the 10 to 1 underdog Fine Arrow and romped home in style from Chelsea and Tap On Power. Indeed it was a commendable show from Fine Arrow whose best career effort was finishing second behind Mujahedin at Mumbai.

Taking part in the two mock races held here seems to have immensely benefited this Nirad Karanjawala-trained four-year-old gelding. Settled in the mid-bunch, Fine Arrow was alerted by jockey B. Prakash only when the race took a serious turn for home. In a flash, Fine Arrow went past La Tour D’Argent and kept going from Chelsea who was hard ridden by Mallesh Narredu to hold on to the second berth from Tap On Power.

It is not take any credit away from either B. Prakash or Fine Arrow but it needs to be mentioned here that Tap On Power was unable to find a clear path but for which he would have run much closer to the winner. Jockey C. Rajendra aboard Tap On Power was cramped for room when making his final move as Aslam Kader too decided to throw his hat into the ring at this juncture. In doing so he denied Tap On Power any room to manoeuvre his way to the front. But more than Aslam Kader, jockey C. Rajendra should blame himself for finding himself in a mess. Fargo raised some hopes by coming into contention at the bend but soon they faded away.

Halfway through the day’s proceedings, an atrocious attempt to disrupt the Land of Glory Plate was made by some anti-social elements. Fortunately for the punters their plans were foiled and Mille Fiori won with ease. But some professionals involved in this race were unhappy with prudish attitude of the RWITC top brass.

Reliable reports suggest that when the senior stipe Dady Adenwalla noticed the intrusion on the tracks he made contact with his colleague Pradyumna Singh on the walkie-talkie set and reportedly asked him "to caution the jockeys of the impending danger ahead and stop riding". Accordingly, Mr Singh (who was travelling in the club vehicle that accompanies the field of horses when the race is actually run) called out and waved his arms at the jockeys asking them to take it easy. This was confirmed in the replay of the race after watching Mark Gallagher astride Win A Million and C. Ruzaan atop Piaget ease their mounts in response to Mr Singh’s call. Meanwhile, Mille Fiori drew away from her rivals.

Instead of informing the racing public about the facts, all the RWITC stipes did was to call a stewards enquiry in which the stewards were apprised of the entire incident and also the circumstances which led to the jockeys pulling up their respective mounts. The outcome of the enquiry did not affect the judges’ order of placing.

But showing scant respect for the reputation of the professionals, the authorities did not inform the public that the jockeys were merely following their instructions and there was no malpractice involved. This entire episode found a fleeting mention in race day report of the RWITC, which fails to shed any light on the incident. Just imagine C. Rajendra easing Mille Fiori and allowing some other horse to win this race. Would the stipes and the stewards have behaved in the same way as they did on Tuesday?

Associated with the victories of Conflagration, Dendrobium and Mille Fiori, C. Rajendra made steady progress in his bid to retain the championship title. Jockey B. Prakash increased his tally through Perfect Placement and Fine Arrow.

The last two races on Tuesday left too many questions unanswered. Will anybody out there please explain the reason for Future Arrives’ poor showing and the sudden reversal of form that transformed stablemate Phrwaxshi into a winner in the same race? Was "load-shedding" the reason behind the powerless performance of High Voltage who had run close behind Polish Nobility? If "horses are not machines" is the answer to these questions, didn’t we know that already.