Horses and punters brave heavy downpour at Pune

By True Blue

Pune
Aug 10, 2006

Pune had been in the grip of an extended wet spell with the entire city trying to come to terms with the prevailing flood-like situation. Amid all this, the Pune racing season was flagged off. It was by no means a perfect start for the season. And, taking into account the packed fields that graced the longish card of ten races, the smooth conduct of racing seemed a miracle at the end of the day.

Irrespective of the hardship many racegoers had to face in coming to the racecourse only to get the information that Sunday's races had been cancelled, it must be said that better sense prevailed after all.

It was only a brave act on the part of the RWITC authorities, the jockeys in particular, which was instrumental in pulling off the inaugural day's racing. The equines, of course, have no say in the fate that is decided for them and therefore they went through the grind without any protest. The only casualty of the day was the four-year-old gelding Sizzler from trainer Imtiaz Sait's yard, who had to be euthanized on humane grounds after suffering an irreparable damage to his right shoulder. Sizzler's rider S. S. Baria however escaped with minor bruises.

Oyster Cove and Petronella, two brilliant sprinters in their respective age groups, resumed their winning ways. The Shiraz Sunderji nurtured gelding Oyster Cove (Royal Kingdom-Gumbaru Etsu), steered by Aadesh Kumar, returned to form with a smashing win the in the Akkasaheb Maharaj Trophy. The winner failed to keep a straight course when delivering his challenge and went on to runner-up One Way, the early leader. As Oyster Cove had not caused any damage to One Way's chances, the protest of the latter jockey was rightly overruled by the Stewards.
 
Adam's Star and Enaksi surely did not have the luck of the race and they need to be persevered with. Stara Zagora also spent much of the time towards the inner rails and was switched by Mallesh Narredu too late to make any difference to the race. The Pesi Shroff trainee ran a close fifth and should be a force to reckon over a slightly longer trip.

Shiraz earned a back-to-back double when rookie D.K.Ashish spurred Vrikodara (Diffident-Marladar) and stunned Hidden Dragon, who had done all the hard work till then, near the post. Shockwave was outpaced throughout and so were the rest.

Petronella (Conquering Hero – Truffa), half-sister to the Indian Derby winner Velvet Rope and who is now being looked after by Dallas Todywalla, showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals when posting an academic victory in a Class III race. Cine Star chased the winner, who gave P.Kamlesh an armchair ride, in vain and ended up playing bridesmaid.

Pesi Shroff opened this season's account when the well-bred filly Bravissima (Placerville-Innocent Pleasures) grew stronger towards the finish on being encouraged by saddle-partner Mallesh Narredu to snub Boss Elements, who appeared to be inching towards an upset win. There was some enthusiastic support for Dance Diva which seemed extravagant as the filly found it difficult to keep pace with the leader.

Mallesh had started his current campaign on the right note by giving an assuring ride to the aged mare Verzzano (Marienski-Azureen), who made steady progress in the race and managed to collar Dancing Mystery and runner-up Cape Merino in the last half furlong. Interlaken ended fourth, which was promising enough to merit following over a longer journey.

Narendra Lagad's bread-n-butter candidate Fire Dancer (Sizzling Melody-Danseuse) was fortunate to survive a scare from Heart of Danger and it was only the timely arrival of the winning post that saved the day for the favourite's followers. Te Quiero and Tearaway were simply not in the hunt. Belle Chose ran on late to grab the third spot from Tearaway.

Regina (Storm Trooper-Midnight Madness) registered an upset win to bring some precious stakes for her master Don Surti. Zameer Sayyed managed to keep her chances afloat despite Firey Future's late but futile attempt. Lady Hamilton recovered from a sluggish start to end third ahead of Return Of The King, who was unlucky to have suffered interference from Britney at a crucial stage of the race. The odds for ante post favourite Britney, who ended fifth, witnessed an alarming fluctuation to forewarn her prospective supporters. It is arguable whether Britney deserved to be an on-money favourite in the first place nevertheless all those who stayed away saved their hard-earned money.

Degas (King of Kings-Slide By) relished the underfoot conditions and scored his second successive win under the tutelage of Amjad Khan. Young Dashrath Singh was so confident astride the winner that he hardly found any trouble in containing the limp challenge of co-favourite Oscar Star. Game of Power and Bionic Angel ran on late to complete the judges frame.

Trainer Imtiaz Sait missed a sure-fire chance to lead in his first winner as his ward Accessible failed to get into rhythm early and lost by a mere neck to Stunning Star (Storm Trooper-Gironde), who achieved a pillar-to-post win which allowed trainer Narendra Lagad and jockey S. N. Chavan to complete a brace.

The fluke win of The Dominator (Diffident-Diamonds For Ever) in the concluding event of the day didn't help the cause of the punters. The Rehanullah Khan trained gelding was piloted by V.Chandrakant, who had not ridden a winner in the last decade, and was least fancied among the eleven runners. Demolisher appeared to be delivering the goods for his admirers when The Dominator found his foot towards the inner rails and zoomed past the favourite without much fuss. The final odds against Incomparable may have suggested that she was highly fancied but that was not the case as borne out by the end result. The mare ran leisurely to finish fourth behind Charging Rhino, and is best ignored.