Had the local challenger Flareon and the Hyderabad contender Yes Es Yes
Ses not paid the final entry fee of Rs 1.85 lakh, the total stakes
would’ve been less than 20 lakh. Interestingly, the former is a maiden
and the lowest rated horse in the field while Yes Es Yes Ses carries the
highest rating.
Be that as it may, there will be a lot of ifs and buts when the chances
of the Derby runners are analysed and the same rule will apply when the
post-mortem is done after the race is over. To cut the long story short,
the Pune Derby is quite open.
Aquilo, Asiatique and Rising Force feature prominently in the condensed
list of horses that have with a realistic chance of winning the Pune
Derby. But you never know. There may be an outsider lurking in the ranks
who might want to take home the plum event like Enaksi did in the S. A.
Poonawalla Million.
Aquilo, to be saddled by Cooji Katrak, has got some well-deserved rest
after his gruelling trip to Hyderabad where he won the Colts’ Trial
stakes early last month. He has been unbeaten in his last two starts and
has been shaping nicely in the morning trials. Aquilo should give a good
account of himself. This bay son of Storm Trooper out of Ravi is
co-owned by Mr & Mrs K. N. Dhunjibhoy, Ms Zinia Lawyer and Ms Bernadette
Trayling and will be probably ridden by Malesh Narredu.
Asiatique who is by Burden of Proof out of Asian Lady hails from the
yards of Pesi Shroff. Like Aquilo he too had to wait for a long time
before success came his way. He beat Supreme Act, who won two races on a
trot later, by a good five and-half lengths. The chestnut colt then ran
in the General Rajendrasinhji Trophy (1800m) where he went down fighting
to Star Millionaire. Asiatique is fighting fit as evinced from his
recent workouts in the morning and whoever wins the race, he will be
right there. This Dr Vijay Mallya owned colt is likely to be steered by
Irishman Mark Gallagher.
Rising Force the challenger from Bangalore will lead Dr M. A. M.
Ramaswamy’s pack in this race. The racing baron has fielded five horses
of which Rising Force and Star Millionaire should be at the front.
Rising Force was defeated by the experienced Formal Invitation over a
mile trip when they met at Mysore last month. Rising Force was not
certainly not disgraced in that encounter and lives to fight for yet
another day. The extended Derby trip might favour him as he has won over
an identical distance during the Bangalore Summer Season. The S.
Ganapathy trained son of Alnasr Alwasheek out of Adam’s Treasure should
be the preferred choice of B. Prakash.
The horse that has shown fantastic improvement over his Mumbai form is
Flareon. Trained by Cooji Katrak, Flareon ran a hell of a race in the S.
A. Poonawalla Million last month whjen ridden by the lesser-known Altaf
Sayed. Flareon lost precious ground at the start but came with an
electrifying run to finish third a neck behind the runner-up Evatina.
Flareon was disqualified as the jockey failed to weigh-in after the
race. Flareon is by Razeen out of Colour Presentation and is the
property of Messrs Ashok Ranpise and Balam Mohla. Jockey Suraj Narredu
has been flown in to ride Flareon and will remain a live threat to all.
