Narendra Lagad overtakes Dallas Todywalla with a quadruple 
By Usman Rangila

Pune
Oct 22, 2004

With just four meetings left for the curtains to be pulled down on this year’s Pune racing season, trainer Narendra Lagad had a surprise in store for everybody. Although Dassera was being celebrated all over the country on Friday and Deepavali, the festival of lights, still a couple of weeks away, Narendra was not in a mood to wait that long. He had the fireworks ready for display and did so by saddling four winners in the card of seven. Having utilised the services of apprentice Anil Baandal in his earlier conquests, Narendra enlisted jockey Satish Nayak’s help for the remainder of his mission. Dallas Todywalla after being on the top of the table of the leading trainer’s tally till last week suddenly finds himself trailing behind Narendra. The latter has established a three-point lead over Dallas, which looks unassailable for the moment unless the former champion pulls out some aces from his yard during the coming weekend.

Light of Justice was the first of the four winners led in by Narendra. Light of Justice was never off the board in all his four previous runs and finally earned an overdue bracket. Wazzup Dude tried to pull a fast one but had no answer to the onslaught of Light of Justice, who came charging down the straight. Dazzling Ray ran on late to finish third ahead of Elezibeth Arden, who retired gracefully after being in the vanguard till the turn.

Satish Nayak completed a back-to-back double when the aged mare Attia In Sunlight came with a flourishing run to overhaul Silver Line and Rich Treat close home. The failure of the on-money favourite Montana was a sore point indeed but since Silver Line denied him a clear run at the start, the Don Surti candidate should be given a benefit of doubt though reluctantly. Interestingly, this is not the first time that punters have burnt their fingers by trusting Montana with their money.

Light Of Justice (Gallagher up), winner of the Highway Star Plate

It was only twelve days back that Confident had failed to deliver the goods and had succumbed to Hot Tin Roof. On this occasion, the property of Our Stable Racing Syndicate was second in demand only to the piping-hot favourite Ravissant and fully geared up to erase the bitter memories of the defeat. The fleet-footed Ravissant from Altaf Hussain’s yard was unable to wrest the early initiative as Titania hit the front. The favourite ridden by A. J. Nilesh then struggled to catch up with the leaders. Meanwhile, C. Rajendra engaged Titania in a stirring duel and even as he was about to gain the upper hand, Stunning Effort came flying on the wide outside. Confident spurned the late bid of Stunning Effort and denied jockey Harish Rathod an opportunity to deliver Hanut Singh’s surprise package.

Having pulled out his three aces earlier, Sphinx was the ace of spades still lying unexposed in the pack of cards Narendra had brought with him. As the field of twelve was skirting the false rails, the chances of Sphinx looked very bleak. And when Serendipity took charge from the no-hopers, it seemed to be all over bar the shouting. But the flow of adrenaline had not ebbed in the veins of Satish Nayak. There were no shortcuts available for Satish yet he took a big gamble in bringing Sphinx from the wide outside. Sphinx was full of steam and Serendipity had no option but to surrender before the Dark Nile progeny. The celebrations of Narendra had just begun.

He may’ve ridden a solitary winner in the day but Pesi Shroff’s effort was worth the weight in gold. It was a class act from Pesi aboard Canny Lad that gave the chestnut colt his third career success. Canny Lad was up to his old tricks of giving a hard time to the handlers and was very nearly declared a non-starter. But the official starter was in one of his rare compassionate moods and that paved the way for Canny Lad’s success. It may’ve gone largely unnoticed, but Pesi skills in keeping Canny Lad on an even keel, especially in the home stretch, when Nina Lalwani’s ward was inclined to veer towards his left went a long way in contributing towards Canny Lad’s victory. Favourite Perpetuate proved no match for the winner but should not be written off in a hurry as she is capable of doing much better.

Confident (C Rajendra up), winner the Sparkling Cyanide Plate

Eight months in hibernation did not rob Starynsky of his talent and his master Hosidar Daji deserves the credit for persevering with him patiently. The grey son of Warrshan gave a gallant performance to down the colours of Shyboy, who had almost succeeded in his start-to-finish mission. Path of Fortune, surprisingly, lay quite a distance behind the front runners but raised a glimmer of hope for his supporters before his leisurely gait could prove shallow in the end. Jockey R. Shelar guided another long shot winner when S. M. Johnson-saddled filly Keisha proved too good for her opponents. Favourite Timely One, who was entrusted to Rajeev Pandey by Dallas Todywalla, failed to accelerate and ended a tame third. The rest of the runners in this race seemed to be out for an airing.

Presentation ceremony of the Desert Warrior Trophy

Canny Lad (R Pandey up), winner of the Bucephalus Trophy

Presentation ceremony of the Bucephalus Trophy