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One Life To Love Wins In Effortless Fashion

By Pearcey | 30 Jul 2011 | BANGALORE


Trainer R R Byramji leading One Life To Love (P S Chouhan Up), winner of The JB Mallaradhya Memorial Cup

Rashid Byramji's One Life To Love (Inner City-Just Amazing) showed tremendous improvement over her known form while running away with The JB Mallaradhya Memorial Cup at the Bangalore races on Saturday. She announced her arrival in the highest class with effortless ease. She handled her penalty, which she had received after winning on Derby Day, with a minimum of fuss and treated her more seasoned rivals like ordinary mortals. PS Chouhan rode her with a lot of understanding and gave her an immaculate ride. The seven-furlong handicap had attracted a dozen acceptors. The better-performed horses were seen conceding weight to their younger opponents. As a result of this, Love Conquers All and One Life To Love were installed at the top of the betting charts. The pair of four-year-olds was running over a favourable trip and their recent form had been more than encouraging. What was evident on paper, got translated perfectly on the race track as the two of them ended way ahead of the others.

Hatsuhana and Soberano led a closely packed field as the runners sorted themselves out in the early stages of this race. One life To Love raced close behind the leaders while Love Conquers All was seen travelling towards the rear of the pack. Hatsuhana managed to skip clear of the bunch and led into the straight. One Life To Love made an appearance towards the centre of the track. She gained momentum with each stride and was definitely travelling the best of the lot. Chouhan gave her a couple of taps and asked her to quicken. The response was almost immediate. The filly lengthened her strides and strode away from Hatsuhana and the others. Suraj brought Love Conquers All with a late bid to run a good second. The winner has struck some fine form and one can expect Rashid to take her further.

After a brilliant 2010, during which period he posted the highest number of wins in a single year of his career, PS Chouhan looks determined to pick up the championship this season. He rode a treble on Saturday, and by doing so, increased his lead at the top of the table. With only a couple of weekends of racing left this season, he is assured of the title. His victories astride Tharun's Drop Of Honey and Neil Darashah's Lad Star were achieved near the shadows of the winning post. In both these races, his mounts literally got up on the last couple of strides to put their necks in front of the others. Drop Of Honey (Brave Act-Chantenay) chased Airplay for most of the way, and the filly began to swish her tail under pressure. Chouhan put away his stick and chose to push her thereafter. The pair of them was soon joined by Royal Surprise on the wide outside. In a three-way finish, the leading jockey managed to guide Drop Of Honey successfully across the wire.

The extremely well-bred Lad Star (Razeen-Anagram) put up a similar performance. Even though she is bred to travel longer, Neil decided to run her in a sprint today. There was a lot of hype around Attaolahi's Bryant Park, but the dark bay colt got beaten on the post. Simply Best and Bryant Park were involved in a duel down the length of the straight. Suraj managed to wrest the initiative near the distance post and looked poised for a popular victory. Lad Star had to make up a couple of lengths on the leaders and her task looked almost impossible. However, Chouhan refused to give up. He pulled the filly towards the centre of the track and gave her a crack. She flew towards the post and beat the favourite on the post.

By winning the very next race with Sunraider (Senure-Wings Of Fire), Neil Darashah joined Arjun Mangalorkar at the top of the trainer's tally. They were tied at 14 winners apiece at the end of Saturday afternoon. One can expect the two of them to make a serious bid to win this coveted championship. Sunraider raced kindly for jockey Srinath while registering a start-to-finish victory. Even though Maverical and Snow Peaks tried very hard, Sunraider was a bit too strong for them. Favourite Diamond Flame disliked the underfoot conditions and ran pathetically to end a poor fourth.

Attaolahi's Silken Touch (Burden Of Proof-Track Charm) regained her winter form to post an exciting victory in a class III handicap over 1,400 metres. She had lost condition after her run on the opening day of the season and Suleiman had chosen to give her a longish rest. She looked well today and raced accordingly. She responded to Ryan Marshall's handling while making every post a winning one. Silken Touch had to contend with a late-rushing Chemin De Fer. This Padmanabhan-trained filly had run a nice race behind Black Magic Woman over the Derby weekend. The only thing against her today was her high handicap. She was conceding as much as six-and-a-half kilos to the eventual winner. Chemin De Fer was the fastest finishing runner in this race. Despite John's strong urgings, she was a "neck" shy at the wire. Arabian Gold made up acres of ground from the tail end of the field to run a good third ahead of Magnitude Star and Ben Ten. The last-named looks more like a sprinter and should be followed over a shorter trip in future.

Sharat Kumar's Smooth Glider (Emerald Cat-Adam’s Bounty) came with a late surge to go past raging hot favourite Special Fx in a scurry for horses in Class IV. Both these runners had won a race this season. Vinayak's Special Fx had shown a lot of speed in her only start and was accordingly installed as an on-money favourite in this race. John took her to the front and led easily into the straight. Chistopher-ridden Smooth Glider made up much ground towards the inner rails to join the issue. The two front-runners raced alongside for a while before the matter was settled. Smooth Glider accelerated smoothly to register a facile victory. John raised an objection against Christopher on the grounds of interference. Since the infringement had made little impact on the final result of this race, the Stewards were quick to throw out his claim.

The last race of the day was annexed by Lokanath's Magnomical (Epicentre-Hunting Hawk). Neil Darashah's Cinnamon Rush was bidding to add another point to her master's tally, but that was not to be. On the basis of her recent form, Cinnamon Rush was considered to be the best runner in this race. After encountering numerous problems, the even-money favourite was unfortunate to lose this race by half a length. She suffered at the start, had to weave her way through a packed field, got hampered on the rails and after being pulled out in the straight, was seen travelling like a train. The long lead established by Magnomical in the final furlong was good enough for her to retain the winning prize. Biutiful ended a fair fourth. Cinnamon Rush must be followed in her next start, as she definitely looks capable of winning at her present mark.