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Strengthto Succeed Dazzles at Colts Trial.

By Parjanya | 11 Jan 2008 | DELHI


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His name is Strengthto Succeed. Earlier, he ran true to his 17-letter name while making an amazing winning debut in the Sohna Stud Million and now his present success in the Mukteshwar Colts Trial Stakes has become a talk of the turf. Undoubtedly, it was his potential that forced his connection to put faith in him by making him eligible to run at the cost of a huge final entry fee. He deserved that. In return, he really paid off in the nicest way by letting his ownermate (Storming Success) down by a neck at the wire. Making a fluent gallop from the widest draw of 13 over the seven furlongs, the son of Don Micheletto and Numer Eines snatched the issue from the leader - Golden Gun, from the 900 m and made the rest of the running on his own before surviving against the stable-buddy Storming Success. "I'm so happy about the glittering performance of the duo that I've no other word than to say - Great,” Laksh, the owner of Strengthto Succeed told me. "I knew that he would definitely make it but the runner-up berth would also come to my way is something special," he said. "We have a plan to send the duo abroad and talk is going on with one of the top-notch owners from the East Asia, Mr Dato Terry Lee. He is the man who brought the Indian horses on the map of Singapore racing with the help of Saddle Up and Simply Noble," said Pawan Bhatia, the breeder (Nakul Stud) and the father of Laksh Bhatia. "Hopefully, the horses will be leaving India at the end of the season (April)," Pawan added. "He has run beyond my expectations as he is cut above the juveniles up to the sprints distance," Anupam Sharma, trainer, told me. "He exhausted too early due to the stalling position nevertheless the margin of victory would have been a matter of a length or so," he explained. "However, Storming Success has touched my heart," he added. It should be noted that Strengthto Succeed did not bear the quirt of jockey Ramandeep Singh Bal en route to victory in the last furlong, whereas Storming Success made a storming dash in the dying moments that merits up to the mile. Captain Planet, who did not find the better place than the second runner-up, had to put in all in the last furlong after coming from the mid-bunch. Anupam-trained Insas became the first three-year-old horse to emerge victorious in an open class. The filly of Dahya and Gold Ring made the favourite, more matured and the aged Exalted (8-year-old) felt the age factor in the lower division of the Poet's Dream earmarked for class three. Picking up momentum from his last outing, where he finished fourth, Pleiad made no mistake in prevailing over the late-geared High Opinion in a start-to-finish attempt by a neck in the Hardenvast Plate. The run of Intricate, who finished fourth, should be ignored. Spot Hit just managed to hit the spot by a whisker in a pillar-to-post affair in the upper division of the El Johar Plate Against Queen Amedale. The matter of experience counts much in every field and that made all the difference between the much experienced Rajinder (spot Hit) and a lightweight apprentice jockey Riazuddin, who had just started his career few months ago and incidentally rode the loser. Riazu had his mount in the striking position and could have followed the straight path instead of catching Spot from the widest. Paladin ran on to be impressive third. Dingle bears watching. Gates of Victory, who was expected to live up to the support he got in the betting arena, was up with the pace till 500 metres. Then he abruptly developed a fitness problem and that forced jockey Imram Chisty to get down before the post. Aleem Khan-saddled Just Like A Woman once again turned out to be a bombshell in the lower division of the El Johar Plate by putting a break across the heavily backed She's Sexy, who incidentally belongs to the same stable. Struggling for a clear passage till the last furlong, Ram Parvesh dared to poke the grey winner through She's Sexy and Time Gentlemen's wall to achieve success. However, She's Sexy, who was in after a long lay off, was never allowed to run freely by Time Gentlemen. Otherwise, she might have been able to gain a victory. Celestial Fairy fared well to be a belated third along with Ever Try, who finished fourth. Sangreal once again failed to break the jinx of playing the role of second fiddle for the third consecutive time as Montgomery's Hero landed spoilsport in the concluding event.