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Byzantine Sparkles in the Stewards Cup

By Mirror Image | 14 Jun 2012 | MYSORE


Trainer C Girinath receiving The Stewards Cup from Mr. K.A. Muddappa, Chairman & Senior Steward MRC

C.Girinath trained Byzantine (Warrshan-Seriously Nicole) trounced the field with a sparkling run, in the Stewards Cup. Delhi based jockey, Mohit Singh was given the task of guiding the fortunes of Byzantine and the young lad did full justice. Racing in fourth position at a striking distance as the field rounded the final turn, Byzantine raised a menacing gallop on top of the straight, to hit the front and leave the rest cold. While the fancied runners Demanding Format and Golden Tricks were finding it tuff to keep pace, Vertex moved ahead and took the second spot despite drifting out of the straight course. Prezzie rallied late from the rear to snatch the third place from Demanding Format.

Jockey R.Vaibhav rode his fortieth win on P.C.Tejaswi trained Prost (Black Cash-Gentle And Bold), in the first race of the day, the Alberetto Plate. Vaibhav has now completed the mandatory number of wins to graduate and will not be permitted to claim any allowance henceforth. Corbett Queen and Prost tracked the front running pair of Kukanof and Coastal Express till entering the straight. Vaibhav picked up the stick with two furlongs left and as he gave one backhander the whip slipped out of his hand. With just his hands and heels Vaibhav pushed Prost to take charge and kept going till the finish, keeping Corbett Queen at bay.

Bipin Salvi’s Swiss Queen (Bee’s Prospector-Fushia) won the lower division of the Goa Plate. T.S.Jodha kept his cool and held Swiss Queen close to the inner rails, in sixth position and waited there anticipating a gap to materialize. As the field turned for home the front runners moved away from the rails and the dream opening that Jodha was eagerly waiting for was offered on a platter and not wasting any time he went for it and surged to the front. Sun Device and Speedy Amigo finished second and third respectively.

The lower division was won by Vishal Yadav schooled Chinab (Polar Falcon-Alexandrie). Cute Style was permitted to be withdrawn before the race and the fiel was reduced to seven horses. Game Face led the field early in the race and brought the field on to the home stretch. Chinab produced a fast gallop under Gautam Raj Urs and surged forward inside the last furlong and won the race unhindered. Enduring Speed and Bella Coola fought on for the minor places and finished in that order for the second and third spots.

High Treason (Eljohar-Coral Reef) with apprentice M.Rajesh Kumar astride carried the feather weight to a runaway victory, in the Heggadadevanakote Plate. Backed to the exclusion of the other runners, High Treason tracked Miss Ruby and Daring Dynamite till the last 400 metres and broke away from them to win by a lengthening margin. Miss Ruby did well to hold on to the second spot. Highland Bounty was withdrawn before the race.

Michael Eshwer schooled Legal Knight (Mull of Kintyre-Lovely Fantasy) scored an encore, in the Irappu Falls Plate, the concluding race of the day. Tusker was the piping hot favourite in the race on the merits of its win in its last race during winter. Legal Knight had also won on debut during winter and both of them had not raced since then. Going into the race Amber Star went on a start to finish bid but was overpowered by Legal Knight who came with a sustained run under M.A.Milan. Sterling Speed tried its best to get the better on the straight but Legal Knight got stronger towards the finish. Tusker made
a very late bid to finish a close second.