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Adrian defies expectations
By Sharan Kumar | 04 Jul 2004 | BANGALORE
Mr. & Mrs. Zaheer Rattonsey & trainer Mr. L V R Deshmukh leading Adrian (Y S Srinath up) winner of the Maharaja's Cup (Grade II)
Vittal Deshmukh’s belief that Adrian’s chances had all along been done in by poor handling of jockeys and that four kgs overweight will have no bearing on the performance of the son of Glory of Dancer in as big race as the Gr 2 Maharaja’s Cup if the jockey was of the calbire of Srinath was vindicated when the lesser fancied Hyderabad challenger swamped the opposition on Sunday. The Maharaja’s Cup has always gone the way of classic-placed horses favored by the terms of the race and Adrian belonged to such a category though the full exploitation was done by jockey Srinath whose brilliant riding made up for the four kgs overweight that he had to carry. Srinath has been riding liking a man possessed and currently enjoys the rating as the best on view. Srinath had a splendid treble on Sunday, booting home Orion and Starcent to remarkable wins in close finishes.
The race had an open look about it because the top performers of the previous season were not in the best of form while the ones well placed in scales had one thing or the other going against them. Though in hindsight it is easy to point out how Adrian stood out on the basis of his run behind Star of Windsor in the Bangalore Winter Derby and that he was the horse on the upgrade if one were to overlook the four-year old gelding’s poor runs earlier in the season as also the fact that he was not allowed to exploit the pull in scales.
These things weighed heavily on the minds of race goers rather than on the horse. The bottom-weighted Integral enjoyed strong support along with Glorious Colours but the former had a bad check during the chance and very nearly came down while the latter was not in best of health and was a distressing last. Srinath’s ability to extract the best out of his mount stood out as he managed to settle Adrian in about fourth position and made a precise move to collar the front-running Adolfito and then packed punch to stave off the belated challenge of Own Vision and a late-finishing Star of Windsor.
The race run at fair clip, had Smart Supreme and Adolfito prominently in front with Own Vision, Integral and Adrian racing in close attendance of each other while Star of Windsor and Glorious Colours were at the rear. Passing the seven furlong marker, Adrian shifted in slightly along with Own Vision, causing Integral a very bad check. The filly very nearly came down but Suraj Narredu managed to stay on in the saddle but thereafter she was a spent force. Pesi Shroff had Adolfito dictate the proceedings from the 700 metres marker, with Smart Supreme unable to pick up speed to be in touch. In the meanwhile, Adrian moved on the outside swiftly and quickened nicely to seal the race in the final furlong. Own Vision finished on strongly to take the second spot ahead of stablemate Star of Windsor who was gaining momentum when the cause had been lost. Baffert was a close fourth ahead of Adolfito.
Taurian reared up badly and sat for a while before being extricated in the Boradacres Plate (Div I). Taurian was pulled out and then examined by the vets and certified fit to race. Under such circumstances, the vets have to take into consideration not just the injury part but also the trauma that is caused by such a nasty incident. In the event, Taurian was a lost cause and faded out after being in front the van. La Bella Vita led the field all through though Spanish Cruise challenged her strongly in the homestretch but was unable to pass the front-runner. Srinath managed to elicit good response from Orion and his power packed finish enabled the favourite to win in a three-horse finish. Srinath was equally brilliant on Starcent in the lower division of the race where his never-say-attitude enabled the well-fancied Michael Eshwer trainee to overhaul Torodoro in the dying seconds of the race. Favourite Highness showed up briefly in the straight but failed to sustain the effort.
Shakti Singh had to stretch himself to the maximum when guiding Chief Emperor home in the Pune Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated in the lowest class. The well-bred Saoirse who has had a tendon problem, took things under control till passed close home by Chief Emperor who responded to the pounding that he got from the jockey. In the lower division of the race, Princess Chand benefited from the good forward run that she had last time out, by putting daylight between herself and the well-backed Fire’s Dew.
Despite lugging in badly and giving jockey Prakash all sorts of problems, Divine Diamond won the Young Rajput Plate (Div I) with a fair degree of comfort from a late-finishing Talented Guy who found the six furlong trip a trifle sharp for his comfort. Royal Desire battled on to take the third spot while Thunder On who got inspired support in the ring, packed up at the top of the straight rather tamely. The lower division of the race saw Imperialistic win well from debutant Ariba who is sure to improve leaps and bounds after this educative run.
The price on Star Tribute drifted out rather sharply in the ring as Ranveer came in for big support. Star Tribute won quite capably while Ranveer who hadn’t been given a good educative forward run earlier, being ill at ease, showing inexperience of handling pressure and responded only when the race was in the safe keeping of the front-runner.
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