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Mother's Pride Stuns the Opposition

By Pearcey | 30 Jul 2009 | BANGALORE


Winning Owners leading in Mother`S Pride (Wayne Smith Up), winner of The K.N.Chennabasappa Memorial Cup

A mixed bag of eight events faced patrons at the Bangalore races on Thursday. On a day when many long priced horses won their races, Darius Byramji's Mother's Pride dropped the biggest bombshell of the afternoon in The KN Chennabasappa Memorial Cup. The five-year old had not won a race in the last one year, and with three poor performances in the current season, had very little to advertise her chances in the day's feature. Last outing winner Firezone found himself at the top of the card, and was set to concede weight to his seven adversaries. He was the only one to have won a Class I race in recent months and was automatically installed as the 2/1 favourite to lift this trophy. Star Wave, Blink and Silken Thomas were joint second favourites at 6/1 each. Suraj Narredu decided to take bottom-weighted Silken Thomas on a start-to-finish mission, and set a brisk pace in the first half of the race before giving his horse a breather. Blink and Dare Don chased him till that stage, while Firezone and Star wave were noticed to be racing at the back. Wayne Smith was content to relax Mother's Pride in last position as the field took the rising ground and turned for home. Under the strong urgings of Suraj, Silken Thomas lengthened his strides and charged for home. Blink went in chase, but was unable to make any impression on the leader. Firezone was produced on the wide outside, but the big made horse found his handicap a stopper. In the midst of all this, Mother's Pride began her march forward. With steady acceleration through the middle, she improved with each stride and collared the leader. Silken Thomas and Blink were able to save place money. Firezone ended a poor fourth. Darius provided another shock in the form of Agility. The well-bred filly had run seven times in as many months without success. She had finished almost 20 lengths behind the winner in her last start. The only thing that was different today was the change of shoes. Steel had changed to Aluminium after her last start. The sprint race had three strongly fancied contenders in Gold Crown, Brigade's Passion and Jamaiican Bolt. It was Jamaiican Bolt who stole a march after making all the running, and seemed set to win before Agility arrived on the scene. The filly began her march from mid-group and thundered past the leader. The rest of the runners led by Brigade's Passion finished way behind the first two. A visit to the bookmakers ring after the last race revealed that a huge last minute coup was landed with Agility. Apart from Darius, jockey Wayne Smith was one of the two jockeys to score a double for the afternoon. A well-timed and forceful ride from him enabled Royal Treasure to win a race after more than a year. Prakash ridden Ready To Mingle held the advantage till the last few strides, before she was overhauled by the winner. Early leader So Much More and Royal Bank finished close behind them, and filled the rest of the frame. The other important feature in the day's card was the running of Amazing Ray. The filly had arrived from Mumbai with impeccable credentials, having finished close behind top performed horses at that centre. After flopping as a favourite in her first start, and a comfortable outing in The Fillies Trial Stakes, the fashionably bred filly (Placerville-Aroma) was looking a picture today. She sported a brilliant coat, was looking more filled out and most importantly, was keen to run. Prakash was totally disinterested in the early runaway tactics of Dolce Vino and Leave It To Me. He settled Amazing Ray in third spot and did not move a muscle till entering the home stretch. The public choice was brought widest of all, and showed her class by skipping past Leave It To Me. Dolce Vino ran out of gas and dropped through the pack, while Dramatic Dancer improved from the rear to take the third spot. The connections of the winner were delighted with her improved performance today. This was Prakash's turn to complete a double, as he had scored in the day's opener with Pleasant Glory. This last outing winner was taken on a pillar-to-post mission, and was lucky to keep going from a late finishing pair of Excellent Ability and Luminous Gold. The big made Colonel Duff finally got a chance to enter the winners enclosure. In a race reserved for horses of his age group, Colonel Duff added another point to the tally of champion Suraj Narredu. The change of stables seemed to have worked for this winner. S Singh sent him out in immaculate condition, and the stars seemed to favour him. He had got interfered with in his last couple of outings. There were no such problems today. He showed early speed and occupied the box seat on the rails till the bend. A fairly large gap opened at that stage, and Colonel Duff was good enough to take it. Under a powerful finishing effort from his rider, the winner skipped away from the pack and withheld the late challenge from Tina's Triumph and Fanaa. The only other race in the day's card was a rare mile and a quarter event for horses in Class V. Arjun Mangalorkar's impessively bred three-year old filly Hoten Happening (Brave Act-Sunny Clime) had run three times this season. Based on those performances, she soon found herself in the lowest class at Bangalore. Her pedigree suggested that she would stay, and therefore, this turned out to be a great opportunity to confirm that opinion. Imran Chisty kept her in second place for most of the way, before pushing her to the front. The filly definitely stayed, but then, that’s about all that she did. Hoten Happening was able to last out by a short head from Prince Norbert.