Deepak Patel on Society Dream, called the buff on the superior riding skills of India’s top jockeys and a few visiting foreign jockeys, with a start to finish mission, winning by over 20 lengths, the Gr 2 Bangalore Oaks, the highlight of Friday’s races. Society Dream was allowed to open up a big lead without having to be expended while the rest of the jockeys including Prakash on favourite Our Destiny vied with each other to strangle their horses to make them crawl. So much so that the daughter of Diffident, Society Dream had a break of over 100 metres inside the final 4 furlongs and barring the front-runner grinding to a halt, the rest of the runners had no chance of coming any where near. The public showed their anger at what was a mockery and the Stewards reacted by fining all the jockeys, barring the winning one, Rs 5,000 for riding an ill-judged race.

In the recent past, Madam Bovary had won the Oaks using similar tactics, with Karan Singh astride and Krishnan on Native Chieftan had won the Bagpiper Bangalore Derby, in similar vein. When the Ahmedulla trained Madam Bovary had won in identical fashion in the late 80’s, the then stalwart of racing Arshad Ali Khan had persuaded the Stewards to declare the race null and void. But the present lot deserves credit for not resorting to a similar gimmick but they would be doing racing a great service if they restored the race to Madam Bovary and paid the stake money to her owners thus correcting a historical mistake.

Society Dream probably had the credentials to win having lost in a photo finish to stable mate Bold Bird in last year’s Governor’s Cup over a mile. But if the race is re-run, she may still win but not by such a big margin. When Madam Bovary won, she did so in an appallingly slow time of two minutes and 45 seconds for the mile and half trip. Last year, Nairn had clocked about two minutes 37 seconds and Society Dream timed two minutes 38.47 seconds. It all points to the fact that the Oaks always attract a poor lot of stayers and shock results are par for this race. And in long distance races, our jockeys are found to be wanting, misjudging the pace more often than. It is also quite possible that often the ability of pace makers are not assessed properly and they are used so in the belief that their stable mates are better.

The jockeys felt that it was unfair to fine the entire lot, as they believed that the best horse in the race had won and they could not be pulled up for what transpired. Pesi Shroff stated that each one of them was riding to the potential of their horses. ``I was astride Ching Mai and though I saw the front-runner gone far away, I could do little. I was only hoping that the pace of the race was even slower so that I could save the filly to make her finish in the frame. At the finish, I could not improve my placing one bit even on the runners who were pacing with me. Both Paul Eddery and Malesh Narredu were in the second and third position but they finished in the rut. If the jockeys had chased the front-runners, most of the horses would have packed up earlier than they did. This sort of results are not uncommon even in England or America where what are supposedly pacemakers, have caused an upset or at least remained in the fighting line.’’  May be, a few of the jockeys who were astride horses who were supposedly better stayers could have moved up instead of strangling their horses out of contention from the outset. Like for instance Prakash on Our Dynasty, Aslam on Bold Bird and Srinath on Ippodamia.

Patel took Society Dream to the front, to do the familiar job of setting the pace but found himself so far in front without having to use up the horse that he realized inside the final 250 metres that he could win after all! He seized the opportunity to drive out Society Dream to victory over stable mates Our Dynasty and Bold Bird to win his first classic and provide trainer Ganapathy a rare 1-2-3 in the race. It’s A Steal who was one of the strongly fancied runners, took the fourth spot.

The Kelachandra New Year Trophy, a seven-furlong race for maiden three-year olds, produced an exciting finish, with C Alford driving out lesser-fancied Allies Serenade to a thrilling win over Rubik and One Aim. Inside the final furlong, it looked as though the fight would be confined to Rubik and favourite One Aim, with Allies Serenade having been left behind but the third named flew at the finish, to snatch the verdict. Alford, who has not done well at Bangalore, had a lucrative treble for the day, winning on favourite Athinai and lesser-fancied Attorney. The last named was rated highly by jockey Pesi Shroff who had opted to ride him in preference to the eventual winner Prince Valiant in the Mysore 2000 Guineas. Now running in a handicap race for horses rated 20 to 35, he was a good prospect but with stable mate Generic Emperor being the betting rage, it sent the punters on a road to disaster.

Splendid Quest had finished way down the field in his last outing but now backed to the exclusion of her rivals, the daughter of Libor won with great ease, making a mockery of the formbook. The Stipes have opened an enquiry into the running of Splendid Quest but they have invariably proved to be exercises in futility. In BTC, enquiries are opened only to close them, concealing more than what they reveal.

Top-weighted Pride Valley managed to stave off the challenge of In A Flash to win the Star Contender Plate in convincing fashion. There was a flood of money on Royal Prose in the concluding race of the day but Srinath had to drive out the favourite, with all the resources at his command, to contain the challenge of Ithica and Balle Sher who warmed up late. Smart Romeo was not in the fray, apprentice jockey Md Yasin, taking things easy, being slowly off from the gates. The Stipes fined Yasin for the second time running for not being alert at the gates.