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Speed Six Lifts The Juvenile Summer Million

By Pearcey | 22 May 2011 | BANGALORE


Mr. Zeyn Mirza & trainer S Padmanabhan leading Speed Six (Neeraj Rawal Up), winner of The Juvenile Million (Grade II)

Dr Vijay Mallya-owned three-year-old colt Speed Six (Burden Of Proof-Six Speed) asserted his superiority over a bunch of top-class youngsters in The Juvenile Million (Grade II) at Bangalore on Sunday. Running for only the second time in his career, this Padmanabhan-trainee handled the seven-furlong trip like a seasoned campaigner, and sent a clear message to all concerned that he will be a formidable opponent in the Summer Classics. The manner in which he hit the front, raced well within himself till the top of the straight and quickened thereafter, were all signs of a true champion. The nine contenders in this race were meeting on specific terms. The ones who had won twice were conceding weight to their rivals. Pesi Shroff's Amadeus came into this race with a huge reputation. He had won a couple of starts before finishing a fair third in The Poonawalla Multimillion at Mumbai. The got-abroad colt had been working well on the Bangalore training track, and his connections felt that it would take a very good horse to beat him on Sunday. Super Duper, Astapi and Speed Six were yet to taste defeat, and therefore, it was very difficult to assess their true potential. The one big factor in Speed Six's favour was the fact that he was receiving chunks of weight from the others. After opening as an 11/10 favourite on the course, Amadeus was backed to the exclusion of his rivals and sent to the gates as an odds-on choice to lift this coveted trophy. Speed Six, Super Duper and Astapi had stray support in the betting rings.

Setting a pretty fast pace from the very beginning, Neeraj Rawal and Speed Six charged to the front and showed the way to Own Empire, Amadeus, Super Duper and Astapi. The others felt the heat and were under pressure to remain in touch with the leaders. Half way through the race, it became evident that Amadeus would have to do something special to catch the front-runner. While Neeraj was poised comfortably astride Speed Six, Prakash was seen niggling the favourite. Speed Six led by a couple of lengths into the straight and charged for home. His jockey made free use of the whalebone to keep him going. On the other hand, Amadeus made heavy weather of chasing the eventual winner and rolled sideways under pressure. To a standing applause from his camp, Speed Six returned as the winner of the first "graded" juvenile event of the Summer Season. Amadeus took the second place, while a totally unfancied I Specialist ran on to topple Astapi from the third spot. The last-named covered a lot of ground in the straight, and gave indications of an early victory in his own class.

Jockey Neeraj Rawal completed a comfortable treble during the afternoon. His victories astride Celebrity and Black Magic Woman were scored with equal ease. Celebrity (Burden Of Proof-Littleover) was running in The Ministerial Trophy, a terms race for maiden's over 1,400 metres. This well-bred filly had run against much better company and was lucky to be running amongst such a poor bunch of horses today. Padmanabhan had taken her to Hyderabad in January to have a tilt at an important event at that centre. Celebrity had reared up on that day, and lost all her chances at the starting gates. After taking a good jump today, Neeraj held her back behind Mountain Prince, Javo and Biutiful till they approached the straight, and let her go thereafter. Celebrity bounded forward and scored by a widening margin from the late-finishing pair of Saganaki and Carrus. The winner is likely to be targeted at the Fillies Trial Stakes next month.

Black Magic Woman (Placerville-One Magic Moment) arrived from Mumbai with a terrific reputation. She is considered to be a top sprinter of Western India. The handicapper rated this three-year-old filly in Class II, and trainer Katrak chose to run her in open company. Despite her inexperience, the bookmakers refused to offer more than 40/100 on her. She jumped smartly from the extreme outside draw and settled beautifully behind the speedy Romance In The Air. She took the bend on tight reins and bounded away from her rivals. Black Magic Woman stopped the clock at a shade under one minute 13 seconds, which by Bangalore standards, is a top-class timing. Valahak improved from mid-group to run a good second ahead of a tired Romance In The Air and a hard-ridden Indian Bolt. Valahak is the one for the notebook, as he will be too good to miss the day trainer Prasanna Kumar decides to run him at a low weight of Class I.

The other professionals to corner glory during the afternoon were John and Arjun Mangalorkar. The pair combined effectively to land a fine double. They started the day's proceedings with Habanero (Rosmini-Chili Day). Running as a first favourite, Habanero improved from a lethargic beginning to join issue with Neel Gagan and Your Destiny. The four-year-old lengthened his strides in the straight and opened up a fair lead into the final furlong. Your Destiny made up ground thereafter, but was unable to narrow the gap. Making free use of his whip, John pushed Habanero towards the winning post. Tribal Queen came with a late bid to save place money for her connections.

The win astride three-year-old Hawa (Midtown-Lyocel) was more exciting. The first-timer was bidding to lift The Prince Khartoum Trophy. This sprint for maiden three-year-olds saw some spirited betting on Deshmukh's Doomna's Conquest. The got-abroad filly was backed at all prices and reached the gates as an odd-on choice in this race. Hawa was the quickest out of the gates and it was obvious that she loved racing in front. She took the bend on an even keel and maintained her superiority till they reached the final furlong. Things got a bit more serious at this stage, as both Sunday Cruz and Doomna's Conquest came at her. However, Hawa responded gamely to John's urgings and scored narrowly from a fast-finishing Sunday Cruz. Doomna's Conquest looked tired in the final stages, and the filly shortened her strides to finish a tame third.

John shared the day's honours with Neeraj Rawal, as he completed his treble through Puttanna's Fire Star (Puerto Madero-Amelina). Here too, the young man chose to go to the front. Fire Star led from start to finish and managed to snuff out the challenge from favourite Agusta. At one stage it seemed as though Agusta would manage to get Fire Star on the post, but that was not to be. The small-made Agusta found her top weight a stopper, and filly faltered under pressure. PS Chouhan was unable to get anything "extra" from Neil Darshah's ward.

It was a similar story in the next race. Here too, Chouhan was riding a favourite from Neil Darashah's yard. One Cool Cat was a rage in the betting rings and the odds on this four-year-old gelding kept shortening with the passage of time. Apprentice Rajesh goaded Hidayat Khan's Star Of Desire (Mischevious Music-Temple Bay) into an early lead over One Cool Cat, and the two of them tore away from the others. Rajesh's confidence could be gauged by his stance astride the leader. Despite Chouhan's hard riding, One Cool Cat missed catching Star Of Desire by a short margin. The apprentice boy rode with confidence and managed to score a rare point for the stable.

The day ended on an equally exciting note when strongly fancied Bourne Supreme (Rebuttal-Iquique) lasted out to score in a thriller from Vijaykeerti. Satish Narredu trained this compact looking horse to win his second start in succession. Jockey Ashish held him on a tight leash till entering the straight. The horse responded gamely to seize the advantage in the final furlong, and fought every inch of ground to retain his advantage till the winning post. Vijaykeerti ran his guts out, but was distinctly unlucky to miss today. Magnitude rallied late to take the third place. Fancied Chemin De Fer ran in snatches to finish in the ruck.