Londoner pulls the rug from beneath the feet of both Severriano and King of Hearts
By Usman Rangila

Pune
Oct 9, 2004

Londoner (C Rajendra Up) Winner of 
Shree Shankarrao Wakalkar Memorial Trophy  

Assisted immensely by the pace set by her owner-mate Frantic, the four-year-old bay filly Londoner literally caught her rivals napping in the Shankarrao Wakalkar Memorial Trophy here on Saturday. Apprentice Towfeeq Shaikh brushed Frantic into the lead allowing C. Rajendra to settle Londoner comfortably on his tail. Jockey R. Rupesh astride Severriano hovered in close range while Imran Chisty rode King of Hearts well off the pace. Just before the heads turned for home, Londoner was nudged by Rajendra to measure Frantic who was already looking to make an honourable exit from the scene. The Cooji Katrak trained daughter of Storm Trooper out of Passing Gull then stormed into the lead to catch her main adversaries Severriano and King of Hearts napping. Closer home, King of Hearts managed to shrug Severriano off his back and took the runner-up berth behind Londoner.

Flavius Victor was another Storm Trooper offspring led into the winner’s enclosure by Cooji. Although neglected in the betting arena, the three-year-old colt looked determined to shed his maiden status. Malesh Narredu experienced a torrid time while trying to restrain Flavius Victor in the early part of the race and though the bay colt did settle down later, it was evident that he was not too happy being ridden in check. Round the final turn, both Flavius Victor and Cakravana made their entry on to the stage even before Pesi Shroff could settle the dispute with leader High Five. It hardly required a genius to figure out as to who was the better moving horse between Flavius Victor and Cakravana. The favourite was a spent force probably due to the energy he wasted during his climb up the hill, something which his rider Malcolm Kharadi may not have realised, coupled by the fact he was travelling four-five horses off the fence at that stage.

Flavius Victor (M Narredu Up) Winner of 
The Busy Lizzie Trophy

King of the Turf (P S Chouhan) Winner of 
The Cape Knight Plate

But for the failure of Karumba right at the start of the day, Cooji would’ve been sitting pretty at home celebrating a grand treble. The former lacked exposure and succumbed to the onslaught of Anil Baandal-ridden Brezhnev, who ran absolutely true to form. The task of the Narendra Lagad trainee probably rendered a bit easy by the reluctance shown by Eastern Command and Adam’s Secret to put their best foot forward.

Jockey Pradeep Chouhan is slowly but surely finding his lost form in the saddle. The young rider, who is freelancing for the moment, rode a back-to-back double, one apiece for trainer Hormuz Antia and Sorab Jilla. Pradeep gave a flawless ride to King of the Turf, who recouped the losses suffered by his connections during his defeat at the hands of Pitlochry earlier. The son of Storm Trooper out of Flicka was always racing in a striking range behind Star Holme and Acceleration. The favourite, on being alerted to his task, strode out majestically to the front and was home and dry leaving Simply Red, Summer Wind and Sunlord fighting for the minor places. Pradeep grabbed the initiative with California at the start itself and kept going to thwart the bid of Divine Romance and Adam’s Bank in the Chakori Trophy.

California (P S Chouhan UP) Winner of 
The Chakori Trophy

Space Girl (B Prakash Up) Winner of 
The Nectar Queen Plate

Dallas Todywalla had the satisfaction of saddling a brace of winners in Mysterious Land and Space Girl. The two juveniles cornered a large chunk of the money that flooded the betting the market in their respective events. Their supporters, however, need to thank their lucky stars that were shining bright allowing both Mysterious Land and Space Girl to scrape through. Just a length separated Mysterious Land from Get Fresh. The other runners were not inclined to test the ability of the winner only to ensure a safe passage for jockey B. Prakash on his road to glory. An assiduous effort from jockey P. Kamlesh would’ve been suffice for Rivendell to conquer favourite Space Girl. Fortunately for the supporters of Space Girl, however, Rivendell never got that inspiration from Kamlesh. Space Girl capitalised on the opportunity to score her second straight victory and was followed by Storm Alert and Castle Beauty. Rivendell was content to finish fourth and it is very likely that she is saving her best for some appropriate occasion.