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Practicallyperfect Dons The Fillies’ Sash

By Mirror Image | 28 Aug 2011 | HYDERABAD


Mr. Karanbir, Mr. Tegbir & trainer K V Srinivas (deputising J S Dhariwal) leading Practicallyperfect (C Alford Up), winner of the Deccan Bookmaker's Fillies Championship Stakes (Gr-3).

The 38th running of the first classic of the Hyderabad Monsoon season, re-christened as The Deccan Bookmaker’s Fillies Championship Stakes (Grade III), was bagged by Jaggy Dhariwal-trained Practicallyperfect (Sunday Doubt-Sterling Prospect), donning the silks of the Brars. The daughter of Sunday Doubt had two wins from four starts, to back her chances in the race but looked to be far behind other talented ones like Windsor Manor, Forever Glory, Aegis and Surya Lakshmi. Jockey Christopher Alford rode the filly to an impeccable grand stand finish, punching his hand in the air in celebration, to add one more classic triumph to the long list of Dashmesh & Hargobind Stud. Speaking to Indiarace after the victory, Alford admitted that the filly is still immature and has the potential to make it big from hereon. “She has the staying ability,” he said and added, “I was rather lucky to have been pushed out on the straight; my filly got a clear run and she picked up speed just at the right time.” Mr. Karanbir, younger of the Brar brothers, who was at Hyderabad along with Mr. Tegbir, to lead the new champion in the making, said, “The filly had hurt her left shoulder during the travel from Bangalore and we were a bit concerned about that but she has done Dashmesh & Hargobind proud.”

Windsor Manor hit the front, on jumping out of the gates and the rider Imran Chisty found it hard to ride his mount in check, the filly fought for her head for almost half the distance, burning out her energy. Precisely That, Aegis and Practicallyperfect were huddled together behind the leader. On entering the straight, Windsor Manor was digging into the well, while Surya Lakshmi raced ahead and Practicallyperfect moved over to get past Windsor Manor. Surya Lakshmi looked good 100 metres from home but she started to lug in badly and could not get the much needed ‘professional’ assistance from the saddle and succumbed to the relentless conquest of Christopher, on Practicallyperfect, in the shadow of the winning post. Windsor Manor ended up third ahead of Magnitude.

A packed field of 16 runners faced the starter in the Original Vel Mrs. Radha Balasubramani Gold Cup, a 1200 metres sprint, for horses in the highest category. Walnut Creek set out on a start-to-finish mission with Above The Line, Kohinoor Mystic and Guiding Light closing up, 300 metres from home. A hard ride by P.S. Chouhan got Guiding Light (Itaquere Power-Courbette) to raise a rapid gallop and swooped on the front-runners to win the race. Alberton Star and Golden Queen flashed on very late, to take the second and third places respectively, ahead of the long-time leader Walnut Creek.

Jockey Mark Gallagher rode a back-to-back double for trainer K. Satheesh. Best Pal (Best Of The Bests-Ultimate Truffle) won the lower division of The Blue Max Cup, while Silk Route (Sunday Doubt-Celestial Star) lifted the higher division. Best Pal and Stadium Of Light raced in front till entering the home straight and the former quickened under Gallagher to move away from the rest. Robust was the fastest finishing towards the closing stages, landing up second, coming from the rear. Silk Route was ridden in check behind Cherry Hill and Drum Beat till the distance post and Mark guided the filly through the inner ground to win comfortably. Cherry Hill, Drum Beat and Midnight Beauty filled the frame in that order.

Jockey Imran Chisty was specially flown in from Mauritius to ride Windsor Manor. He could not do justice on that mount but steered Anupam Sharma’s Naval Honour (Philanthropist-Lit d’Or), in the lower division of The A Krishnaswami Memorial Cup. Naval Honour jumped out attractively from the draw closest to the inner rails and led, followed closely by Crown Castle, Genius Empress, Brianna and River Side. On entering the final straight, Imran Chisty gave a few hard backhanders and Naval Honour readily picked up speed to scuttle away from the field. Genius Empress finished second ahead of River Side.

Lesser fancied Craven Cottage (Rambus-Gil Vernet) was ridden out by Vivek to score a stunning upset over the piping hot favourite Vijayshaurya, in the higher division. Enchantment brought the field in to the final run with Craven Cottage a clear four lengths adrift. Mid-way up the straight, Craven Cottage surged ahead and had to fight a fierce battle with Vijayshaurya, to emerge a ‘neck’ in front at the finish, despite hanging out in the last 50 metres.

K.S.V. Prasad Raju’s Melody Queen (Hymn-Jukebox) pulled off a mighty win under Imran Khan, in The Diablo Plate, the opening race of the day. With Pedalo having been withdrawn on veterinary grounds before the race, the field was reduced to nine runners and Betty Prior was the strongest in the betting closing at half money. The favourite looked very uneasy in the race and never raised serious hopes at any stage of the race. Betty Prior had just managed to get the better of the front-running Zenas on the straight when Melody Queen came with a flourish to emerge on top. All The Fun beat Betty Prior for the second place.

Anupam Sharma completed a double, leading in Deepanjali (Gaswar-Pamela Bordes), in The Scenic Royale Plate, the concluding race of the day. Positioned in third, behind Al Malawi and Part Time Lover, Deepanjali moved effortlessly to win with more on hand.