.png)
India's first & foremost horse racing portal
Register Now 
Echoes Of Light Smashes Course Rrecord
By Epsom Ace | 23 Jan 2010 | KOLKATA
Saturday afternoon belonged to Darius Byramji and Echoes Of Light as they pummelled the Indian Champion Cup field in dramatic fashion and in the process smashed the course record for 2,000 metres. It was a wonderful piece of ‘setplay’ masterminded by Darius which threw speedy front-runner Abs Fabs off her stride and in the process ruined her chances. Free-kick taker Christopher Alford followed the instructions to a ‘T’ and had the rest of the runners grovelling after the bend. Stablemate of the winner Succeeding Star set a scorching pace and opened a huge gap of over ten lengths. Alford kept Echoes Of Light in the second slot while Abs Fabs was in the sixth spot. ‘Echoes’ took over the running before the turn and there was no looking back. He was travelling smoothly without any ‘glitches.’ The six-year-old had finished second to the winner Diabolical in this very race last year and made ample amends on this occasion. The son of Razeen stopped the clock at 2 min 3.892 sec. The previous record was held by Aperitivo (2 min 4.12 sec). In-form runner Chios and Raghuvansh occupied the minor placings.
Barring Adriano, not a single favourite obliged in a card of seven events. Island Rhythm set the trend in the opening race. The two fancied runners Spanish Sahara and Debonaire Girl failed to match strides with the chestnut colt who was taken to the helm of affairs by Imran Khan from the outset. The 7/1 shot kicked clear of the challenger Debonaire Girl in the straight while Spanish Sahara was never in the hunt.
The grapevine had it that Imran Khan’s mount Star Luxurious was ‘past the post’ if he takes level start in the 2,000 metres race for the Lt Gen Jameel Mahmood Memorial Trophy. He did take a level start and followed Temptation all the way till the distance post. The story ended for him there as C. Alford brought the favourite and heavy-weight Adriano with a great run on the outside.
Credit Squeeze was considered to be a sound bet in the Eastern Command Cup. However, there was a buzz that all was not well with the colt and quite a bit of money came on Celtic Charm. Neither of the stables had bargained for ‘maiden’ apprentice Babu Singh pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the season astride Palme Dor. He took the shortest route home and staved off a serious challenge from Celtic Charm. As for Credit Squeeze, he was well and truly out of sorts and never looked that he would raise a gallop. It has been a dramatic decline in form for the winner of the Monsoon Colts Trial.
After his facile win on New Year’s Day, Kestrel was backed to the exclusion of all others in the race for the PP Ginwala Memorial Cup. Kamlesh had the forward gelding racing second before taking up the running in the straight. The persistent Neeraj Rawal had Golden Globe tailing him all the was down the straight before edging ahead close home. Top-weight Chinatown returned bleeding in this race.
A similar plight awaited Corazon in the six furlong sprint for the Aperitivo Cup. The filly left behind the early pacesetter Fire Within but had no answer to the challenge from her nemesis Thundering Hooves. The latter not only defied his penalty of 7.5 kg but also the 5kg pull that apprentice Sameer had claimed on the last occasion. Exclusivity seems to have lost his penchant for the track and took his own time to come out of the stalls.
The curtain came down with Jasbir Singh-trained Sea Sprite making a start-to-finish affair of the Brave Patriach Handicap. The mare gave jockey Pawan Sharma an armchair ride. This was the final straw in the Jackpot and 70 per cent of the pool was carried forward.
News Letter
Contact
Email: info@indiarace.com
✕
- HOME
- STUD FARMS
- ARCHIVES
- GLOSSARY
- CLASSIFIEDS
- EX-NAME SEARCH
- DAM
- SIRE
- ROLL OF HONOURS
- FEEDBACK
- HORSE TALK