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Camacho Scores Comfortable Victory

By Mahendra Mallya | 18 Dec 2011 | MUMBAI


Mr Zeyn Mirza & trainer P Shroff leading Camacho (Anthony Crastus Up), winner of The Jacqueline Trophy

The Casino Royale 2000 Guineas day brought about some excellent performances. Pronto Pronto stole the limelight and surely was the Star of the day, with Richard Hughes playing perfect foil in the saddle. Richard returned with three victories as did Pesi Shroff. Shroff’s Picasso and Cardinal fought it out with Pronto Pronto and secured the second and third slot for the trainer who had a more favourable 1-2 in the 1000 Guineas with Alma Mater and Botswana.

Sergeant Pepper (Burden of Proof – Loch Katrine) justified the heavy support he received and won in a stylish manner, drawing away to stamp his authority over his rivals. He shot ahead soon on start and maintained a handy lead thorough out the race. Cypress Point jumped out awkwardly losing about 5 lengths and could never recover. Smart Hunter chased the leader for most of the journey but could not quicken when the time came. Neath made progress along the rails and did enough to claim the runner up berth. Sergeant Pepper strode out powerfully in the straight and won easing up by a widening margin.

Camacho (Razeen – Gourgandine) scored an authoritative win to clinch the Jacqueline Trophy unchallenged. Dear Henry tried to replicate his last start victory and as he did on that occasion, he darted to front and tried to build up some cushion before making his charge towards the winning post. Camacho, however, weary of this tactics, never let him go too far ahead and followed the leader, never letting him get out of reach.

Once into the straight, Camacho stepped up the momentum and soon passed Dear Henry without encountering any resistance. He quickened well past the 400 meter marker and travelled far too comfortably to prevail without making jockey Anthony Crastus work too hard. Su Chaliyo ran on from behind to finish second ahead of Dear Henry.

Coccinella (Alnasr Alwasheek – Palazzio) scored the most dramatic win on the day. Lying at the rear end of the big field of 16 runners, Coccinella only had Tudor Regent behind her at the turn. While the front bunch led by Celsius were grappling for the upper hand, moved outward for a clear passage and was swiftly covering ground on the wide outside. The commotion in front was active with Mountain Prince weaving his way to the front. Beyond Comparison too was making rapid progress. Afsoon feel back like the others in front and in the last 100 meters, Coccinella showed tremendous acceleration to trounce the opposition in the true sense of the word. Beyond Comparison and Mountain Prince were both completely washed away by the Coccinella storm that caught them all unawares!

Awesome Smile (China Visit – Subsonic) was well assisted by Richard Hughes to land the spoils in a thriller involving El Wonder. El Wonder took charge early and led the 15 horse field homeward. Awesome Smile in th4 front-bunch but they were all tightly packed. As they straightened for home, El wonder sped away from the rest and soon stole a march. The bunch was still huddled closely and Awesome Smile was between horses. Festival Night, Flashing Sword, Adams Vision and Herculean had all surrounded Awesome Smile and the heavily backed favourite looked wanting for room. Richard proved that he could get a horse through the eye of the needle as he bulldozed his way to break free between Festival Night and Adams Vision and set about in chase of El Wonder. At the distance post, El Wonder was well ahead and kicking on causing anxious moments for the large following that Awesome Smile had garnered. Richard egged Awesome Smile on and pulled off a sensation victory, literally snatching victory from El Wonder’s clasp. Arabian fighter improved a wee bit to run into place money. Jacques was the one to catch the eye, coming from a long way back to end in the frame.

Dovers Hill (Glory of Dancer – Fast Trick) certainly pulled a fast trick as he sealed a fashionable start to finish victory over the prime favourite Amadeus. Taking the advantage of the inner-most draw, Dovers Hill took off at a brisk pace and led comfortably with Check Her Out and Oriental Charm following close behind. Amadeus came next and that’s the order they arrived into the straight. 

Once in, Dovers Hill upped the ante and stretched further ahead. She kept accelerating and none from the rear could make any impact on the Dallas Todywalla trainee. Dover Hill clocked the day’s fastest timing at 59.06 for the five-furlong scurry. Oriental Charm was prominent coming into the straight, but was found to have bled. Amadeus still seemed rusty and would perhaps benefit from this run and give a better account of himself the next time. On the day, however, he was only a shadow of his impressive best.

Ice Pick (Razeen – Society Dream) made his debut count and warmed up at an opportune time to earn his victory. Forest Legion came into the straight with a huge lead, but he stuttered a bit midway into the homestretch. Bourbon Street showed a brief burst of speed to catch up and get past Forest Legion but failed to sustain it longer. Ice Pick, under some hard riding, came up purposefully towards the finish and took charge.

Monza, meanwhile, covered good ground un-noticed, on the outer railings. He went slightly wide at the turn and kept drifting out to run out of the video frame. He galloped on gamely to finish second by a narrow margin. Stromy Princess ended a decent third.

Lavender Brown (Ace – Radiate) was another debutante who impressed while warding off a stiff challenge from Wings of Glory. Sergeant Major and Suntan Beauty were at the helm as they entered the straight. Divine Inspiration looked good as she slipped through the inner rails and looked like she would surge ahead. However, it was Lavender Brown who showed tremendous alacrity and shot into the lead. Wings Of Glory made a valiant attempt to get past Lavender Brown, but the Satvender Singh Soni owned filly showed a lot of grit and fighting quality to stay ahead at the winning post sparing ¾ L to Wings of Glory. Divine Inspiration ran on to end third ahead of early leader Sergeant Major.  

Be Cool (Ontario – Be Mine) scored an emphatic victory to take the Cole Gold Cup Div I. Wild Imagination took the early lead and entered the straight, chased by the favourite Be Cool. David Allan guided Be Cool to the front after a very brief tussle with Wild Imagination and once he go to the front, Be Cool pulled away from the rest. It was as easy as that! Wild Imagination held his own after Be Cool sped away, and duly took the next best slot. Ocean Trail progressed well to ward off Herzeliyah’s bid to earn some place money.

Stylish Strokes (Hymn – Different Strokes) dealt a huge surprise to the market trends and won at whopping odds. He shared the early lead with Aleutian Zone and the pair brought the field homewards. Stylish Strokes zipped past Aleutian Zone quickly and soon was challenged by the hot favourite Flashforward. They battled out the latter half of the straight and David Allan did all he could but could not thwart the stubborn resistance dished out by the Magan Singh Jodha trainee. Stylish Strokes kept ahead of the favourite all the way ot the winning post. Purple Moon ran on to end third ahead of Athos.

For the professionals, Pesi Shroff and Richard Hughes led the day with three winners each. Dallas Todywalla and Anthony Crastus scored a double each.