Four-year-old Aspinalls (Razeen-Zaya) starred in the champion
professional's rich haul of three winners on Saturday. It is difficult
to predict whether fate had originally determined the incidents as they
panned out during the day because the pre-race scenario certainly gave
an impression that Sait was in line for a fiver. Sadly, he had to be
content with just a treble.
Aspinalls did not fail his primary teacher Darius Byramji as a youngster
but a specific physical ailment, vital to his subsequent growth as a
classic suitor, had hampered the exploitation of the bay gelding's
explosive talent.
This half-brother to Starsky (by Selkirk), winner of the McDowell Indian
Derby in 2002, Aspinalls came to Sait's yard in March and began his
second innings on a winning note in April. Aspinalls started off with a
lung-opener over a mile against Thundering Power and was later pitched
into the Eve Champion Trophy (Gr.3), a 2000-metre terms race for older
horses.
His foremost rival was Southern Regent, last year's McDowell Indian
Derby winner. Since the S.Ganapathy's candidate was not in the pink of
form Aspinalls had little to worry about. The fact that Southern Regent
was conceding 12kgs tilted the scales in favour of Aspinalls and the
task of steering him to victory was executed perfectly by jockey Pradeep
Chouhan. Southern Regent tried to resist Aspinalls in the straight but
in vain. Gold Star came with a rousing run to finish third and it can be
hoped he has better things in store for his supporters.
Khaitan's colours were sported by C. Rajendra astride Accessible
(Steinbeck-Access All Areas), Sait's first winner of the day. Accessible
gave Rajendra an armchair ride en route to his graduation from the
maiden ranks.
Sait and Rajendra struck immediately with the bay filly Nightlife (Major
Impact - Sun Worship) whose stamina came to the fore during the
mile-and-a-quarter journey for the Orange Flower Plate. Favourite
Glenbervie tried start-to-finish tactics which failed abruptly a long
way from home. Nightlife made steady progress and seized the march when
the field straightened and kept going despite Goldeen's late flurry.
Coming back to unsavoury part of the day, Perfect Attraction lost all
her chances at the gates by refusing to take a smooth jump. Earlier, a
sudden burst of money-pouring was witnessed for the Shapoor Mistry owned
Star Galaxy just minutes before the race started. Although Mistry is in
no way involved with betting, many people misinterpreted the support for
Star Galaxy as an ominous sign against Perfect Attraction. Rajendra has
been the preferred choice for a majority of Mistry's horses which led to
this belief.
As it transpired later, Pramod Belose, Star Galaxy's saddle-partner in
her previous outing as a failed favourite and who was now riding Last 'n
Impression, was accused of causing interference to the horses at the
start including Star Galaxy, who was found to be worst affected. Her
trainer Dallas Todywalla pursued this matter with the RWITC authorities
which earned Belose a two-week suspension.
Meanwhile, Raudo (Major Impact - Untold Story) from Altaf Hussain's yard
assumed command from Last 'n Impression in the home stretch and won
warding off the threat of Win For Me and Star Galaxy who, after the
initial interference, ended up fighting a lost cause. Mansoor Khan made
liberal use of the whip to keep Raudo on the road to victory.
An eye-catching run earlier had made Priceless Hero the obvious choice
of all and sundry in the concluding race. The odds on the on-money
favourite went astray and it was Mallesh Narredu driven The Right Man
who received more attention than he deserved. The market predictions
proved right as Priceless Hero failed to deliver the goods in the hands
of Rajendra and gave in meekly to the onslaught of The Right Man.
Mallesh had earlier piloted the Bezan Chenoy trained Oriental Express
(Razeen - Perpetual) to a fine victory over favourite Royal Falcon in
the Rajaram Chhatrapati Trophy. Hugo Boss burst his blood vessels while
finishing fourth behind Somerset West, who spent much of her time
loitering at the wrong end. Samarkhand did not run true to his ability.
Pesi Shroff shared the day's honours with Imtiaz and saddled a
profitable double for Dr Vijay Mallya. Celestrella (Burden of Proof -
Divine Dreams) carrying feather-weight in the form of C. Ruzaan on her
back provided Pesi his first winner. She swept past Fire Dancer in the
straight and stretched under the whip to ward off the threat of Nectar
Jewel. Precision found herself in the money as the rest ran bereft of
any interest.
The three-year-old filly Auryn (Inner City - Bonhomie), a half-sister to
Bonzer, left the maiden ranks in style to lift the Mayor's Trophy. The
blood vessels of Auryn once again gave way under stress as she fought
for supremacy with stable-mate Dreaming. Saregama ran a disappointing
fourth behind Timeless Beauty.
Magansingh Jodha nurtured Firey Future (Regal Intention - Fiery Maiden)
ran true to form with able assistance provided by Belose. He drew a
fantastic response from Firey Future to overhaul leader Star Divine who
was displaced by runner-up No Time's second run.
Magic Spell (Tirol - White Magic) called it a day as far as her mediocre
show on the track was concerned after Narendra Lagad finally allowed the
maiden filly to display her true potential. S.N.Chavan drove her to a
comfortable victory in an average field.
