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The Crown Safely with 'Castle King'

By Mirror Image | 24 Jan 2012 | MYSORE


Trainer Rakesh leading Castle King (Dashrath Singh Up), winner of The Rajakumari Leelavathi Devi Memorial Cup

S.Rakesh trained Castle King (Hymn-Castle Beauty) won the Rajkumari Leelavathi Devi Memorial Cup, which featured the day’s races on Tuesday. It was a keen tussle between Castle King and Fricka right through the home stretch and the former ridden by Dashrath Singh managed to hold on by a thin margin. Castle King was lucky to keep the race in the Stewards’ room after J.H.Christopher, the rider of Fricka lodged an objection against Dashrath Singh for bumping him and taking him out throughout the last 300 metres due to which he could not give his best on his mount. After a lengthy deliberation, the Stewards decided to rule in favour of Castle King.


Castle King who was close to the inner rails as the field turned for home, started to drift out and in the process took out Fricka who was beginning to challenge on the outside. The drift was alarming and the two finished on the stand side, with Castle King getting the nod at the wire. Spirituality, that was sent into the race as the firm favourite rallied along the rails to finish third. Zamindar was permitted to be withdrawn after jockey S.Jhon failed to make the weight and a suitable replacement could not be found.

Trainer S.Rakesh, whose ward clinched the main race of the day had earlier in the day pulled off a successful gamble through Color Me (Brave Act-Color Me Red), in the Ooty Plate. Jumping out well from the gates, Color Me settled behind the front running Ceasaria. On entering the home stretch, Color Me surged ahead but started to veer out of the straight course. Huckleberry Finn and Time Secret were in full flow close to the rails. Color Me was a clear three quarters of a length ahead at the finish while Time Secret beat Huckleberry Finn for the second place.

Jockey S.John reaped a rich haul of three wins, through Bright Star, Social Climber and Win Prettybaby. The first two named were from the stables of Zareer Darashah while the other did C.D.Monnappa proud.

Bright Star (Rebuttal-Fiorenzza) beat Thriller in a close finish to lift the Cochin Plate. Bright Star was in the lead till the distance post, where he was joined by Thriller and the two went stride for stride till the finish. John’s persistence enabled Bright Star to finish a‘head’ in front of Thriller at the wire.

Social Climber (Puerto Madero-Title Bought) pulled off a win in the Bababudangiri Plate, after a fierce battle with Yankee Lane. Social Climber charged ahead inside the final furlong and Yankee Lane moved strongly to challenge. The pair fought out the last 200 metres and went past the winning post together. The ‘magic eye’ went in favour of Social Climber. The favourite Bucethalis lost considerable ground at start and was never in serious contention thereafter.

Monnappa’s Win Prettybaby (Brave Act-Strokes Of Fire) got up in the nick of time to beat Sequana in the shadow of the winning post, in the Mangalore Plate, the last race of the day.

Trainer C.Girinath’s Regents Park (Razeen-Cico Park) opened the day with a powerful run in the lower division of the Spark Of Life Plate. Racing in about eighth position as the field traversed the final bend, Regents Park made his move on the extreme outside and quickened readily inside the last 100 metres. Raging River, who was up in front all the while, held on in second, ahead of the fast finishing Supreme Strength.

Feroz Khan’s Splash of Beauty (Serious Spender-Waves of Beauty) went on a start to finish bid in the higher division and was successful in her mission. Count Royal was in chase on the straight and gave up finishing fifth. Samrat finished on along the rails to get to the second spot ahead of Passage Of Time. Artisan, who went into the race as the favourite, veered out on entering the home stretch and lost all his chances. Daring Dynamite was withdrawn after she turned out to be
troublesome at the gates.

Boston Ranger (Don Michelleto-Taurina) moved ahead to lead the field near the 1200 m board and was the first to show up on the final straight with Oblique and Mystic Enchantress in chase. Mystic Enchantress took the narrow path in-between the inner rails and Boston Ranger and the two went stride for stride in the last 100 metres. The bobbling of the heads went in favour of Boston Ranger at the wire. Super Sha came in late to finish third four lengths adrift.