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Vijay Damini Wins The Stewards Cup

By Mirror Image | 01 Aug 2011 | HYDERABAD


Mr. Vijay Kumar Gupta & trainer L V R Deshmukh leading Vijay Damini (P S Chouhan Up), winner of The Stewards Cup

Vijay Damini (Elusive City-Kabubina) carved out a well-deserving victory in The Stewards Cup, the feature event of Monday’s races at Hyderabad. The four-year-old filly, who has finished off the board just once out of the dozen runs she has had, was speedy at start grabbing the lead along the inner fence to lead all the way under P.S. Chouhan and score an emphatic victory, taking her career wins to seven. Kohinoor Mystic and Golden Queen were in desperate chase of Vijay Damini on the home straight but failed to get close and finished second and third respectively.

The supporting event of the day, the P.M. Bokdawala Memorial Cup, run over 1,400 metres was divided into two races. The focus was on the lower division where Windsor Manor considered as the best filly here was out to show off her galloping shoes. Jockey Vivek took M. Sathyanarayana-trained Windsor Manor (Placerville-Amber Windsor) to the front early and made every post a winning one. Windsor Manor had built up a good lead on the straight but was looking to be slowing down in the concluding stages and won the race by three parts of a length from Golden Rule, who gained momentum in the last 100 metres. The filly was racing after a gap of almost five months and should be a force to reckon with in the Fillies Stakes. Arrow In Auto Mode finished third.

S.A. Shehzad’s Cristiano (Don Micheletto-Fleet Footed) was given a strong ride by Ch.K. Chary, to lift the higher division. The betting revolved around Cristiano and Bloody Mary before the race and the rest were completely neglected. The outcome of the race matched the betting pattern with Cristiano stretching out by a clear two lengths from Bloody Mary at the finish and the early leader Brianna finishing third a distance behind.

K. Satheesh’s Spectacular Falcon (Don Michelleto-Fleet Footed) was given a good ride by apprentice B. Dileep to score a win in The Jockey K. Suresh Memorial Cup, after a mighty challenge by the more experienced P.S. Chouhan on Kansas City Mac. Royal Bay led from the start till the last furlong where Kansan City Mac made a strong bid on the far side and Spectacular Falcon taking the path in-between the two. Spectacular Falcon won by three parts of a length from Kansas City Mac while Royal Bay finished third.

Jockey P.S. Chouhan was the only professional to score a double. His second winner was astride One One One (Hymn-Carpentaria) in the lower division of The Classic Story Plate, the concluding race of the day. Settling behind the leader Cannon Act till the top of the straight, One One One surged ahead to register a fine win. The Kohinoor, Oscar Royal and Fopping charged towards the winner in the last 50 metres to fill the frame in that order. Kohinoor Glory was withdrawn after she played up in the gates.

Faiyaz Shaikh’s Silver Liner (Dancing Beggar-Park Petard) won the higher division but not before making his supporters move to the edge of their seats. Travelling three off the inner rails, Silver Liner surged ahead approaching the 600 metres and extended the margin to a little over five lengths within the final 1½ furlongs and just as things looked easy, the grey started to shorten his strides at a rapid pace. Splendid Knock from mid-field and Sugar Deal from almost an impossible position in the rear started to launch an assault and the two covered plenty of ground but the winning post came to the rescue of Silver Liner, who managed to win by a length. Sugar Deal got the nod for the second place in a photo finish with Splendid Knock.

Spirited betting on Laxman Singh’s Stylish Chieftan (Imtiyaz-Millywakay) saw the three-year-old maiden getting backed down to favouritism from 15-4 to 2-1 during race time. Moving steadily to improve rounding the final bend, it was smooth sailing for Stylish Chieftan on the straight. Handsome Hawk was sluggish in the early part of the race, finding himself at the wrong end of the field and with constant goading he picked up speed late to finish second while Audacious ran prominently throughout to take the third place. Premiership burst her blood vessels and dropped out of contention.

The top-weighted Lake Blossom (Tobougg-Springtime) from L D’Silva’s yard went into the Perceived Value Cup, the opening race of the day as money-back favourite and she completed the formality without any fuss. Drum Beat and Gossip Girl fought against each other to finish second and third respectively.