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Pronto Pronto, Haunting Fantasy Emerge Victorious
By Mahendra Mallya | 20 Mar 2011 | MUMBAI
Trainer Imtiaz A Sait leading Pronto Pronto (Y S Srinath Up), winner of The Shapoorji Pallonji Breeders' Juvenile Colts Championship (Grade 3)
Trainer Imtiaz Sait celebrated ‘Holi’, the festival of colours, saddling a wonderful quadruple on Sunday, which included one of the two main races, the Shapoorji Pallonji Breeders’ Juvenile Colts’ Championship (Grade 3). Pronto Pronto (Major Impact – Sandslash), with YS Srinath in saddle, displayed immense fighting qualities to launch a severe attack upon Our Chieftain who was shaping well inside the final furlong.
Majestic Force led the field at a steady pace and was followed by Sergeant Pepper, Field Marshall, Mountain Glory and Our Chieftain. Sledgehammer, Pronto Pronto and Secret Service were not too far behind. Majestic Force made way for Sergeant Pepper. The latter failed to quicken and Our Chieftain soon assumed charge. He was going well approaching the distance post when Pronto Pronto moved alongside through the middle. The pair fought out the final furlong and towards the finish, Pronto Pronto got stronger and scored a decisive victory. Secret Service fought out with favourite Sledgehammer for the place money and stayed ahead by half a length.
In the Forbes Breeders’ Juvenile Fillies Championship (Grade 3), Haunting Fantasy (Diffident – Scenic Royale) owned by Dr MAM Ramaswamy, showed remarkable improvement on her last effort and scored a surprisingly easy victory. The Bangalore challenger Loveatfirstsight showed good early speed and had worked up a commanding lead entering into the straight, but squandered it all by going wide after the turn ending up on the outer fence. She got away in Bangalore with a similar misbehaviour, winning despite shifting out in the straight, but Mumbai is a different proposition altogether and this weakness was blatantly exposed and the impressive winner from Bangalore failed to even figure on the board, ending last but one and taking plenty of money down with her. Loveatfirstsight certainly is a filly of high potential and promise. She only needs to learn to do the basics right, like keeping to a straight course.
Haunting Fantasy soon shot to the front and Mark Gallagher got the best out of her. The Karthik-trainee bounded forward accelerating well and past the distance marker was all alone in front. Romantique who was off the pace, failed to reproduce her last start brilliance and helplessly watched Incognito get past her close to the finish to wrest even the runner-up slot. Kathelynn dropped back at a crucial stage of the race, at the bend, but found enough speed to capture a place in the frame pegging back Loveatfirstsight in the process.
Nefyn (Senure – Machrihanish), ridden, nay guided, by Dashrath Singh romped home to rekindle his aspirations and although the margin of victory was nothing to write about, the manner was something to note. He ran in a forward position just behind Ares and Flaming Arrow. However, soon on turning for home, Dashrath Singh promptly gave the signal and Nefyn cruised to the front in no time. Dashrath was looking a lot more at what was happening behind him than in front. He literally toyed with the opposition and even as Demonstrator came at him at full steam towards the end, Dashrath confidently kept on hustling Nefyn, never once urging him for any extra effort. Demonstrator though ended a good second covering ground at a quick rate. Flaming Arrow carried his early advantage to finish third.
It was Imtiaz Sait’s day and if you discount the loss of favourites Celsius and Romantique, he enjoyed a splendid afternoon. He started a roll with Imperial Star in the Colours Of Holi Trophy Div II, a five-furlong scurry. The better-fancied Celsius shot into the lead and brought the field home. Imperial Star, who was a close third until then, started to probe the favourite and started getting too close at a good clip. Born To Race, who was right with the pair, started to drift outward and despite the jockey’s efforts raced along the stand side fence. Imperial Star (Major Impact – Radiant) fought it out, with Born To Race making his presence felt on the outer rails. The trio finished in a heap together, Imperial Star managing to stay ahead by half a length.
The Div 1 of the same race was also claimed by the Mistrys of Manjri Stud and this one was more of a ‘walk in the park’. Stringsofmyheart (Antonius Pius – La Moraleja) had indicated in her track trials that she was blessed with a lot of inherent speed. All she needed to do while taking on a lot of green rivals in their early days, was to reproduce her track form. She did exactly that and encountered little resistance while making a successful debut.
Stringsofmyheart raced alongside Lazor Razor and the pair sailed well clear of the rest even as the others settled down. On turning for home, Stringsofmyheart with YS Srinath astride eased into a good rhythm and working up a good pace stretched dominantly away from Lazor Razor adding turf with every stride. In the final furlong, she drew further away and scored a thumping victory with no challenge coming from any quarter. Blitzing showed some purpose in the closing stages and although she did not bother the winner, Blitzing wrested away the runner-up berth form Lazor Razor. Good As Gold ran below par to end a tame fourth.
Harlamoff (Glory Of Dancer – Winning Spurs) compiled a fantastic hat-trick scoring a third victory on the trot, this time testing herself over the mile and quarter trip for the first time. She packed off her main, in fact her only rival – Ocean Princess rather contemptuously, simply passing her early in the straight and galloping off to score a satisfying victory. Ocean Princess, after her facile victory with an impressive timing over the similar distance, was expected to at least offer a fight, if not win, but the favourite had no answer to the blitz of Harlamoff in the business end of the race. Ocean Princess essayed it start-to-finish, but all her efforts came to nought when Harlamoff unleashed a powerful gallop in the straight. Trainer MK Jadhav has certainly done well with the filly, keeping her in top condition and the string of victories that his filly is producing is testimony of how well he has nursed the Shirke and Dhunjibhoy property.
The Class II Star Shine Plate saw a thrilling finish with four out of the seven in the fray hitting the wire together. Alexus took over the running soon on start and had the entire field huddled behind her. Right next to her was River Blitz (Ikhtyar - Eubee) and the duo entered the stretch together. Then began a fight that was to last out the entire length of the straight. Rajasthan Royals was not too far behind either and alongside him Saba was looking to match up. Tequila and Harmonica were not making much impact, while their neighbour Silver Sands was making steady progress from the rear.
Alexus and River Blitz were going stride for stride with the latter gaining a slight upper hand. Rajasthan Royals was not getting anywhere but was refusing to fade away either. Silver Sands made her bid from the wider outside and was prominent in the final few strides. They were all at top speed and all the four tore through the wire with little separating them. In a short head, short head, neck verdict, River Blitz snatched the race from Alexus, Silver Sands and Rajasthan Royals, a hundredth of a second splitting the top three! The club’s handicapper surely couldn’t have done his home work right! Come to think of it, most of the day’s races were close finishes save the terms races. Kudos to the gentleman who is certainly doing a good job.
Trainer Imtiaz Sait won the last three races of the day with Dancing Dame and Venus Rosewater both running in the colours of the Jains. Dancing Dame (Glory Of Dancer – Ippodamia) surfaced through between horses and pulled off a sensational victory, jockey Rajendra showing a great deal of brilliance in matching Dancing Dame’s gritty gallop. Freany had drawn clear once she took over from Moment To Remember in the straight. Dashrath Singh took charge early and darted forward compiling a handy lead past the distance post. Dancing Dame was between horses looking to wriggle out and break free. She got the opening she was looking for and poked through to be second, still about three lengths adrift and just the final furlong to go. Rajendra pushed vigorously and in no time Dancing Dame responded with a fiery finishing effort that caught Freany just a couple of strides from the winning post. Sunlight Magic, who was right next to Dancing Dame when the latter tore through, could only end a soft third ahead of Jen’s Glory.
Venus Rosewater (Senure – Zealous Cat) rose to the occasion with a terrific final burst to topple a cluster of horses fighting for supremacy and heading to the winning post in a heap. Those involved in the fight were Royal Companion, Prince Lochinva, Ocean Sonata and Lyrical Symphony. With the others not too far behind, it was a cavalry charge at the distance post. Venus Rosewater, driven by Dashrath Singh, steered clear of the jammed traffic and made his move from the wide outside. Royal Companion had a thin edge and was desperately warding off the close challengers when Venus Rosewater swooped on them and snatched the verdict a stride away from the winning post.
Numismatist (Warrshan – Riverine) from trainer Subhag Singh’s yard caused a flutter in the opening race of the day. While Arzaan and Mega Bucks and to an extent Sacred Relic cornered most of the betting, Numismatist was quietly fancied available at single digits. Our Little Angel made the early pace and the field was spread a bit. Reinstate, Sacred Relic, Royal Style and Ocean Queen were closest behind with Arzaan and Numismatist closer to the last-placed Mega Bucks who was slowly off. Ocean Queen came to the fore on straightening up and soon Arzaan moved alongside. Arzaan in particular looked good at that stage but could not sustain. Srinath then got Numismatist going and was covering ground at a good clip. Mega Bucks also appeared in the fray making up lost ground. Numismatist had enough left to him to make an all-out charge to the post and a relentless Srinath saw him through safely. Ocean Queen almost made it and Mega Bucks promised to deliver soon. Arzaan was the one who foxed us mortals leaving her scoring soon at a 50-50 proposition.
The Manjri Stud Farm had a successful day as the Farm’s produce won five of the ten races slated for the day. Imtiaz Sait notched up four winners, while jockeys YS Srinath and Dashrath Singh scored a treble each.
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