IN-FORM JONTY RHODES WINS THE MARATHON OF INDIAN HORSERACING WITH GREAT EASE

The six-year-old gelding Jonty Rhodes was seen in irrepressible form on Sunday as he went on to win the Suresh Mahindra Trophy for the second time in three years. The manner of victory of this son of Traveler’s Aide out of Goldie Girl was quite similar to the one he registered two years ago. Party Whip set a scorching pace to lead the field of five but was a spent force after only three-fourths of the journey was over. C. Rajendra atop Jonty Rhodes wasted no time in assuming charge of the running and the race ceased to be a contest thereafter. Amarilo managed to end a distant second as Capitulate and Dominant Force toiled hard at the final turn to finish on the frame. Full marks to Nirad Karanjawala for keeping Jonty Rhodes fighting fit at this age.

To the sheer delight of his fans, jockey Rajendra was back in his elements this week as he resumed his winning ways in a big way. The champion marked his return to form with seven winners in three days. He had a double each on Friday and Saturday and dished out a fine treble to cap the week’s engagements.

Certain incidents took place on the turf here this week that were hard to ignore and it becomes imperative that the racing public is posted on this front. These incidents not only marred the fun involved in this game but also brought into focus, one of the reasons why horseracing is fast losing its popularity as a sport.

To begin with, Oh So Quick suffered her second defeat from three starts this season. The daughter of Alnasr Alwasheek out of Junoesque, trained by Hosidar Daji and ridden by Malcolm Kharadi was the 10 to 4 on favourite to win the Everything Plate on Friday.

The terms of this event for three-year-old juveniles were heavily loaded in favour of Oh So Quick who was a facile winner just twelve days back. Somehow the filly seems to be aware of the cramped odds she is quoted at and refuses to raise a winning gallop and this exemplary virtue of hers has made her the darling of the bookies. Overcoming the disparity in handicap, Sancti Spiritus gave a spirited display of speed and grit to tame Oh So Quick. Eventually, a head separated Sancti Spiritus from the disgraced Oh So Quick. It may be recalled that Oh So Quick had suffered a similar fate on her maiden appearance this season when she gave a nondescript show to finish in the ruck behind Money Magic.

The maiden success of any horse is widely expected to please its connections. But it was different in the case of Saytarra whose success in the Golden Harp Plate for three-year-old maiden horses failed to light up any faces in her camp on Saturday. Moreover, Dallas Todywalla and jockey B. Prakash (who partnered this Dr Ramaswamy-owned filly in her previous outing) have now been thrust with the responsibility of explaining her sudden reversal of form to the stipendiary stewards. As both professionals were required to fly out of the city due to the running of the Kingfisher Mysore Derby on Sunday, the enquiry into the improved performance of Saytarra has been delayed till Friday. Going strictly by the past record of the RWITC stipes in dealing with improved performances, nothing out of ordinary is expected to come out of this enquiry. The worst Dallas can fear of is some miniscule fine in cash with a warning to be "more" careful in the future.

Special Recruit with apprentice S. P. Ranjane astride, Phrwaxshi with apprentice T. S. Jodha in saddle and Dreadnought with C. Rajendra on board were the three runners entered by trainer Hormuz Antia for the Jaandar Plate run on Sunday. Antia jointly owns these three horses with owner-breeder Rajendra Singh Idar. Special Recruit made every post a winning one.

Punters were certainly not amused by the victory of Special Recruit and they ensured that all those connected with the winner knew of their resentment of such incidents. And for once nobody blamed the public for doing so. For reasons best known to him alone, Antia has adopted a curious style of placing his horses this season that deceives the average punter who then ends up backing the "wrong one". Unlike their Hyderabad counterparts, who are notorious for indulging in violence, Pune punters showed remarkable restraint in being satisfied with just booing the owner and trainer duo which cautiously tread its way back to the weighing room with their faces minus any happiness.

Then, on Saturday, we had trainer Robert D’Mellow seeking permission from the Club’s veterinary officer to withdraw his ward Phenom that was promptly turned. Phenom who was a favourite did manage to win but the RWITC authorities didn’t take kindly the attempt of the trainer to mislead them and fined him. It needs to be mentioned here that the information regarding the explanation tendered by trainer D’Mellow after Phenom’s victory does not find any place in the race day reports prepared by the stipes.

Finally, we had three horses running on Saturday astride whom apprentice Daniel Bast reported the loss of his whip earlier. Bast should thank his stars for these three horses failing to perform any better. Natural Spark (Mark Gallagher up) finished a tame fourth; Pot Magic (M.Narredu up) came a long way third; and Merry Millennium (V.Gharat up) could beat only one home. Still, the stewards of the club decided to suspend the apprentice rider who is likely to miss the entire Mumbai season barring the intervention of the "Angels of Mercy" sitting on the Board of Appeal.

The most vital reflection of the Daniel Bast incident is the habit of the officials of the RWITC jumping the gun and acting as jury when actually they are supposed to play the role of prosecutors in every case. It may be recalled that the RWITC stipes made jockey J. K. Irani their crown witness to convict Raza Ali in the Boldwin incident that took place towards the end of the last Mumbai season. This is not in defence of trainer Raza Ali but definitely the stipes should have gone deeper into the incident than merely relying on Irani’s confession blaming his trainer.

In stark contrast to the Boldwin affair, the RWITC stipes waited till trainer Shiraz Sunderji made a statement accusing Daniel Bast of deliberately throwing the whip astride Natural Spark. But did the stipes investigate whether the apprentice was being made a scapegoat by the connections and whether the loss of his whip was done with the tacit approval of either the owners or the trainer himself. That there is more than it meets the eye to Daniel Bast’s case is proved when you find that no official spokesman comes forward to defend the apprentice before the Stewards of the Club. This also proves that the raging big bulls at RWITC have sacrificed the young apprentice. But our overworked stipes have no time at all to look into these details. The time has come now for the RWITC managing committee to take refurbish its image and take steps that would prevent the stipes who have been sitting on judgements since the colonial days.