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Love Conquers All Wins a Hard Fought Race

By Pearcey | 19 Nov 2011 | BANGALORE


Trainer S Dominic leading Love Conquers All (P S Chouhan Up), winner of The Kempegowda Cup

Saturday happened to be an extremely emotional occasion in the life of trainer Darius Byramji, as it happened to be the day this young trainer saddled the 1000th winner of his career. It was indeed a rare and an important milestone, as it had been achieved in a fairly short period of time. Since Darius has been training simultaneously at both Bangalore and Kolkata , it was a double-header for him on Saturday. Since there was racing at both these centres, he had a number of fancied runners in the two race cards. By scoring a treble at Bangalore and saddling a pair at Kolkata, he was able to reach the magical figure during the afternoon. The victories with No Doubt, Gluteus Maximus and At The Helm were scored in quick time, as the treble was completed within the first four races of the day. The salient feature of this performance was the fact that three different jockeys rode these winners from his yard.

Ladjadj Stephane rode a copybook race astride No Doubt in the lower division of The Gangavathi Trophy. Being a seven furlong race for maiden three year olds, this was one of the last few races in this category. On the basis of her consistent performances, No Doubt recieved strong support in the betting rings. Allowing Right On Time, The Situation and Cat Logan to fight for an early advantage, Stephane chose to wait a while. He made his move after taking the final bend. Producing No Doubt on the wide outside, he asked her to quicken. The filly showed a remarkable turn of foot to sail past her opponents. She won by a widening margin from Cat Logan, The Situation and an exhausted Right On Time. The Sitaution ran a nice forward race, and this is one horse that can be earmarked for an early success in handicap company.

In the hands of Mark Gallagher, Gluteus Maximus rallied brilliantly from an impossible position to score on promotion. He was carrying a penalty for his victory at Mysore. In an open betting affair, Nessie recieved late support to start as a marginal favourite ahead of the others, but she ran a poor race and finished in the ruck. Yas Marina and Make My Day were prominent in the early stages while Gluteus Maximus and Spark Of Silver were seen being pushed at the back. The field began bunching up near the bend. Make My Day overtook Yas Marina and moved steadily towards the winning post. The one's that caught the eye were Gluteus Maximus and Spark Of Silver. Both made identical moves at almost the same juncture. The stronger riding of Gallagher enabled the former to kick away from the latter. Make My Day lost steam to finsh a fair third . The winner has been a good performer for Darius's yard as he has won a number of handicap races for him.

The last and final victor from his stable was At The Helm. This three year old filly was reverting to "open" company after participating in the summer and monsoon classics. Her best performance over a mile had come in The Fillie's Chamionship, where she had ended close behind the first three finishers. Forever Glory had beaten her at level weights that day, but was seen conceding chunks of weight to At The Helm today. At The Helm was backed to the exclusion of her rivals and was installed as an on-money favourite at race time. It was learnt that Darius had entrusted the filly to Ryan Marshal, as she was extemely comfortable with him. This move nearly cost them dearly, as Ryan got into all sorts of trouble in the early stages of this race. Taking off level from the mile marker, he tried to hold her back. As a result of some jostling, he suffered interference and soon found himself at the back of the pack. With nowhere to go, he decided to wait. By the time he found an opening, PS Chouhan and Forever Glory had established a nice looking lead. At The Helm rallied bravely thereafter to collar the leader near the winning post. The half length verdict does not tell the full story. She may be lucky to escape with a light penalty for this hard fought victory. If that happens, then At The Helm must be fancied to win her next start.

The Kempegowda Cup, a Class I handicap over seven furlongs, attracted a fairly competitive field. While One life To Love and Atlantus were saddled with back-breaking weights, the others were well handicapped. Love Conquers All and Accurate had good recent form. Love Conquers all had finished late to take the runner-up berth behind One Life To Love in her first victory in class I. The fact that the winner had carried on her good work by beating Sprint Star at Mysore, enhanced Love Conquers All's chances today. On the other hand Accurate had won his fair share of races before reaching this category. A burst blood vessel had forced trainer Satish Narredu to give him a well deserved rest. His easy third at Mysore showed that he was back in form. The two horses recieved support from the punters and justified the same by running the best races of their respective careers. Love Conquers All and Accurate moved strongly from mid division to fight a closely contested finish. They overtook Red Renegade in the final furlong to end within half a length of each other. A strong and powerful effort from PS Chouhan enabled Love Conquers All to land the day's feature.

The most impressive performance of the day came from Padmanabhan's Sunday Storm in the upper division of The Gangavathi Trophy. This recently gelded horse showed tremendous improvement over his last season form. He raced well within himself while leading a group of maidens. Bessie was his closest challenger, as they made their way towards the straight. Martin Dwyer gave him a tap at the top of the straight and asked him to quicken. His lengthening strides allowed the jockey to ease him, after looking back repeatedly in the last hundred metres of this race. What was most impressive about the victory was the timing of this race and the way it was achieved. Sunday Storm clocked a timing equal to that of Love Conquers All in the highest class.Bessie and a late finishing Saganaki saved place money for their connections.

A successful gamble was landed by the Pradeep Annaiah stable with Youre Stunning. The six year old was backed down from 10/1 to 7/2 in this race. After running him repeatedly at Mysore and bringing him down at the scales, the connections waited for an age-group race for their ward. A sprint for horses, aged five years old and over, was targeted on Saturday. They chose to take their chances with an ordinary rider like P Mani. There was a lot of jostling at the start and the worst sufferer was Amit Caddy's Blue Origin. Youre Stunning took a smart jump and settled nicely behind Son Of The Sun and Jewel Lady. The grey skipped clear of the pack and led into the straight. After weaving an impossible passage, Blue Origin emerged from the chasing group and raced towards the leader. At just about the same juncture, Youre Stunning moved out under pressure. Even though Jorge Horcajada changed course with Blue Origin, he could not reach the leader. Youre Stunning won by a length and a half from his pursuer. The Spaniard raised an objection on the grounds of interference against the winner. Since the objection was only technical in nature, it wasn't sustainable. To the relief of the Youre Stunning camp, the objection was over-ruled by the Stewards of the Club.

Neil Darashah's Miss Ching had an easy time while romping home to an eight length victory in the last race of the day. There was huge support for Sutton Prince in this race. The three year old had impressed in a mock race a couple of weeks ago. His connections felt that he was unbeatable and backed him accordingly. However, they were in for a shock. The horse ran erratically throughout the trip and ended in the ruck. In fact, he crashed against the false rails soon after the start and lost interest in the proceedings. On the other hand, Miss Ching chased Royal Spirit and Brilliance till the top of the straight. Samuel Fargeat waved his stick at the small-made filly, and she responded gamely to his urgings. The pair of them skipped away for a bloodless victory over Rapaddan Glory and Royal Spirit. Miss Ching seems suited over a more galloping course, and it shall be interesting to see how the trainer utilizes her potential.