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Onassis Wins Prive Karl Umrigar Turf Championship
By Mahendra Mallya | 27 Mar 2011 | MUMBAI
r. Vijay B Shirke, Mr. KN Dhunjibhoy, Mr. Farouq Rattonsey & trainer Pesi Shroff leading Onassis (B Prakash Up), winner of Prive Karl Umrigar Turf Championship
Emotions, sentiments and an interesting co-incidence surfaced at Mahalaxmi on Sunday, which saw Pesi Shroff, the brother-in-law of the late Champion jockey Karl Umrigar, bring home an exquisitely crafted trophy, with his ward Onassis rising to the occasion. The race itself had a personal connect for Pesi Shroff and nothing would have pleased him more than to win the race for the second time in successive years.
Diego Rivera, the gutsy performer from the same yard had won this race for Pesi Shroff and he happens to be out of Rahy’s Serenade as well. Onassis (Glory Of Dancer – Rahy’s Serenade) had then ended a close fourth. However, this time round, Onassis who looked in much better shape, dealt a telling blow to thrill his connections.
Cielo Rey hit the front soon on start and worked up a lively pace, followed by Dear Henry and Clarion Call. Mr Greedy was thereabouts along with a bunch of horses; Onassis was closer to the rear with Sprint Star lying last.
As they turned for home, Cielo Rey shot ahead opening up a handy lead. Mr Greedy was going steadily but not making much impression on the leader. Onassis began to warm up past the 400 and then accelerated well in the final furlong. Prakash got Onassis to quicken well and surged past Cielo Rey quite easily to land the spoils.
Ocean And Beyond was a big let down and made no impact on the race whatsoever. Sprint Star came from way behind to end up in the frame just behind Mr Greedy who once again showed true grit to occupy the third spot.
Mr Brotin Banerjee, MD, Tata Housing, along with the members of the Umrigar family, gave away the Trophy to owners Vijay Shirke, KN Dhunjibhoy and Farouq Rattonsey. Pesi Shroff and jockey B Prakash received a silver whip each.
The other highpoint of the day came in the last race when jockey-turned-trainer Malesh Narredu finally tasted victory with his charge Enlightenment (Razeen – Forest Treasure). Racing in the sixth position in a closely huddled bunch, Enlightenment took the turn slightly wide to avoid possible traffic problems. Magical Mantra by then had got past early leaders Up North and Telstar and established a lead of over two lengths. Thriller made his way through the rails and Enlightenment started to devour ground past the 400. Fluent Victory also made steady progress and with a furlong to go, Enlightenment was ahead, but had Thriller and Fluent Victory to contend with. Tommy Carmichael could not muster much and folded up.
Neeraj Rawal got Enlightenment, hitherto unplaced in his short career, to produce an electric run to stave off the challengers and coast an easy victory. It had been a prolonged wait for Malesh and he was thrilled no end when Enlightenment dashed past the winning post. Even the crowd cheered Malesh as if it were a big race. The feeling of first victory is something to cherish for life and the crowds realising this, crossed the barriers to pump Malesh’s hand with congratulatory greetings. “I am thrilled no end and shall remember this moment all my life. I had requested owner Mr Jaydev Mody to stay back to lead-in his horse. There were tense moments that I felt and the victory came as a huge relief. I am delighted now that I have chipped in with a victory, and hope to do better in time,” said a truly jubilant Malesh.
Star Trainer (Storm Trooper – Tiddly Widdly) put in a terrific run to outpace all his rivals from start to finish. Hitting the front early, Star Trainer worked up a nice pace and stayed ahead of White Knight and Misschevious Trot close behind. Scionic faded out owing to a broken blood vessel and ended a tame fourth.
Into the straight, Star Trainer came in on a handy lead of two lengths and kept galloping tirelessly all the way to the winning post. White Knight did look like drawing closer, but just could not match up to Star Trainer’s brilliance. Misschevious Trot stayed put to end a decent third.
Dovers Hill (Glory Of Dancer – Fast Trick) made a wonderful debut, showing pleasing ability to get past the front-runners and chalk out a debut victory with some sizzling finishing effort. The Talati and Panthaky owned filly was kept towards the rails initially in the fourth position after Follow The Dream and favourite Springbank called the early shots. Good Looking raced in the third.
Coming into the straight, Follow The Dream shook off Springbank who was not making any impression. Good Looking was the one to make some headway. Jockey Zervan was quick to realise that Springbank would hamper his progress and in the nick of time, switched to the outside with Dovers Hill. The filly worked up a good momentum past the 300 and soon caught up with Follow the Dream. In the final furlong, Dovers Hill shot ahead and won with a measure of comfort, clearly finishing on well suggesting that a slightly longer distance is well within her strides.
Vittoria (China Visit – Prevalence) made her debut run count with a scintillating run from some distance away from the front-runners. Blue Sky and Heavenly Prize tried to outpace the others but were themselves done in by their tactics. Both entered the straight together with Capriole and hot favourite Scarlet Pimpernel in chase, Vittoria still some distance away.
Into the straight, as the race came to a boil, Signorelli broke down and dropped the rider. In the front, Capriole who had just taken over was easily passed by Vittoria from the inside and Scarlet Pimpernel from the outside. Vittoria showed out with brilliance and looked the winner the moment she took the lead. Scarlet Pimpernel tried to fight it out, but was clearly overwhelmed. Capriole ended a tame third well ahead of long time leader Blue Sky.
National Glory (Glory of Dancer – Painted Faces) strengthened the belief that he is a sprinter of quality winning the KM Munshi Trophy untroubled. He maintained his stranglehold on the race right from the start and sustained well to the end. Akash Agarwal shot ahead with National Glory, but had Ashwa Paarth and Highland Music close behind. Ocean Wish and Wild Torronaado were some four lengths away.
At the turn, National Glory upped the ante and raced further ahead working up a good pace and extending his lead to nearly four lengths. Ashwa Paarth couldn’t keep up and fell back. Highland Music did well to recover lost ground as he had dropped back at the turn to come back with a second run to earn himself the runner-up slot. Ocean Wish ran to end third. National Glory has a short but effective burst of speed and has so far remained unconquered over the five-furlong sprint.
Bongani (Ikhtyar – Carmina Burana) showed great alacrity at the start and bolted to the front at a good clip. She was followed by Glowing Mist, Hills And Dales and Sheriff, while the others were not too close behind. Into the straight, Bongani, under some serious goading from Sunil, stepped on it and surged ahead. At the distance post, she was clear and the ones in the vicinity were not gaining at all. Esmeraldo drifted to the wide outside but put in a sustained gallop in the final furlong. However, that proved a futile effort as Bongani had stretched way out of reach and Esmeraldo only managed to narrow down the verdict.
Ocean Princess (Razeen – Silver Toy) scored an easy victory in the first race of the day. Apache Indian called the early shots through the back stretch, followed by Tryst With Destiny, Ocean Princess, Tara and Thunder Strike in that order. It was at best a friendly pace and Ocean Princess bided her time until they straightened for home. Tara tried to shoot through the rails while Ocean Princess cruised from the outside. Prakash seemed too confident as Ocean Princess strode out well to sail away comfortably to win without much effort. Tara warded off a late challenge for the second spot and held her neck in front preventing Thunder Strike from getting ahead at the wire.
Great White (China Visit – Silver Toy), well ridden by Srinath, collared Sea Warrior and the rest to score a facile victory. Aston Martin, a last start winner, led them till the straight and soon petered out. Sea Warrior then took over but was soon challenged by Great White who came up with a powerful gallop. Srinath went for the kill, relentless in his finish and drew away from the rest notching up a facile victory. Marine Zone came with a good finishing effort but failed to get past Sea Warrior for the second.
For the professionals, trainer Bezan Chinoy saddled a double while jockeys B Prakash and Neeraj Rawal scored a brace each.
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