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Antwerp gives Paddu reason to smile

By Sharan Kumar | 30 Nov 2001 | BANGALORE


Antwerp (Francis Norton up), winner of the Hoysala cup being led in by trainer S.Padmanabhan and owner Mr. Tegbir Brar and Mrs. Karan Brar

The uncertainties of horse racing are such that any professional can find himself driven to the wall if he has a dry run, even if for a brief period, notwithstanding his credentials. Trainer S Padmanabhan was going through a lean patch and if there was lurking self-doubt, he could not be faulted. Antewerp’s win in the Friday’s feature event, the Hoysala Cup, brought a sigh of relief to the trainer even though it was not any major victory to celebrate. In a profession where you are only as good your last winner, Padmanabhan’s poor run had many tongues wagging but the double that he won on Friday will surely help the talented trainer to bounce back.

While Padmanabhan had reason to look back on Friday’s races with a sense of satisfaction, it was not so for the punters who got the wrong end of the stick. Aslam Kader who has this knack of finding himself in the centre of controversies had an eminently forgettable day, first loosing out on odds-on favourite Ashleen. The Stewards hauled him up along with the trainer for a customary interrogation. Aslam Kader’s consistency in picking the wrong horses when confronted with a choice, continued to be mystifying. Antwerp and Aslam Kader have not struck a profitable association as all the wins, barring one had been achieved when a foreign rider was astride the son of Green Forest. Antwerp was a transformed horse under English jockey Francis Norton. The five-year old gelding was seen in different light, doing the customary front-running role and then stretching away decisively from the rest in the run in for home. It is difficult to explain why Antwerp did not put his best foot forward under Aslam. The pint-sized dynamo has been known to be dogmatic in his views and once he has an opinion about a horse, he rarely changes it and it does affect his riding often.

The boxer-turned jockey Norton had Antwerp dictate the pace from the word `go’, with Altimara in a striking distance. Weapon Alpha, Refresher, Chevalier and Golden Goal raced in close attendance of each other. Antwerp came into the straight a few lengths clear of a quickly improving Altimara but as the race came to a boil, the former kicked away, much to the frustration of Aslam who was astride the runner-up. Chevalier, winner of the Kingfisher Mysore Derby last year, finally showed some signs of returning to some kind of a form and since he is being shipped to Malaysia, his further progress can only be a matter of expectation at this point of time. Chevalier has the talent but his loss of form and his inability to regain it, is one of the major surprises of this year. Golden Goal, once a rousing performer, appears to have lost his form inexorably.

Darius Byramji trained Cavallini turned out to be a false favourite. The son of Placerville out of Mystic Memory was making a rather belated debut but since he had the benefit of a mock race and had the services of Pesi Shroff who rides sparingly, he was a favourite by default. The public who believed that these credentials were good enough for Cavallini to make a winning debut were in for a rude shock as the three-year old showed his dislike of the Bangalore track, not raising a fluent gallop at any stage of the race. Dover shaped like a winner but was floored by the finishing burst of Star Class who got the nod on the post. M P Mahaesh’s Fantasy Bay came in for some spirited support in the betting ring, but the son of Poet’s Dream out of a German mare Girandola, was not fluent and barely managed to get the third spot. Jockey Pesi Shroff said that Cavallini did not relish the Bangalore track and the Mumbai track will suit him better. Whatever the plausible reasons for the poor show of Cavallini, the fact remains that he is an ordinary type.

The well-bred daughter of Green Forest, Ashleen had recorded a hard-fought win over a sprint last time out and now racing over a more suitable mile in a hurriedly framed event in which the trainer of the three-year old filly Darius Byramji took pains to ensure sufficient entries, the filly came up with a dismal performance. Ashleen was inclined to run out at around the 700 metres marker, which was attributed to the bit slipping by jockey Aslam Kader and thereafter, the filly ceased to be in the race. Padmanabhan’s Supermax, in the hands of apprentice S Ramesh who is in good nick, managed to stave off the challenge of Peter Corleone and Stormsky to record a win at nourishing odds. The victory of Suprmax ended the winless drought of the trainer that had lasted nearly two months.

The D McPherson Memorial Plate (Div I) turned out to be an eventful one. Favourite Our Ambition flashed home rather too late in the day to make an impact on the outcome of the race. Owner mate Crown Witness made a successful start to finish mission even as jockey Prakash on the favourite, ran into all sorts of problems, running into traffic snarls. He did manage to poke through along the rails but by then, the winning post had already come to the rescue of the front-runner. There was a dead-heat for the third spot, with Carnival Craze and Mayfair going past the post, locked together. The camera failed to separate them. Trainer Ganapathy ended up with a fine of Rs 5,000 for the improved performance of Crown Witness while jockey Prakash and trainer Karan Singh who were summoned before the stewards for the running of Our Ambition, came back unscathed.

With the well-bred son of Dr Devious, Minstrel Star being declared a non-starter, the Baba Khan Memorial Plate appeared to be at the mercy of Amazon Gold who had lost out narrowly to Extreme Contact. The Rebounding Thrill progeny who runs best when she races freely in front, was under pressure from the word `go’ and finished in the rut. Jockey Pesi Shroff drove out Magic Mantra to a comfortable win over a late-finishing Indian Native. Norton has impressed the race-goers in Bangalore by his positive attitude and a sense of purpose that is sadly lacking in most jockeys.