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Star Empire bursts Vijay Singh’s ‘Bubble’

By Epsom Ace | 11 Aug 2012 | KOLKATA


Trainer Mr.Patrick Quinn Leading Star Empire (Md. Islam Up), winner of The Independence Cup

A five-year-old horse who last won a race in Pune in October 2010 and last ran in Mumbai in April of this year, conceded 11kg to an improving three-year-old of this centre and gave him a beating, fair and square. Can you beat that! It can only happen in Calcutta. Can a local five-year-old do the same at Mumbai! – not in our wildest dreams. So what does that prove? Well for one, the local youngsters are not worth their salt and secondly, they may be lacking preparation. They definitely carry superb bloodlines – there can be no doubt about that. For those who are new to Calcutta racing, the above reference is to Saturday’s run of the Independence Cup.

Overnight rain had left a wet turf but the local monsoon track drains fast and it ran true to form. Patrick Quinn’s Star Empire (Razeen-Anagram) was available at 4/1 while Adelric and Impressive Move were the joint favourites. Vijay Singh’s Abubble was available at 10/1. As the gates opened, Kuan Yin shot out like a scalded cat with Abubble on her flank. Three lengths behind followed Adelric, Stupid Cupid, Star Empire (Md Islam up) and the rest. That order was maintained till the straight where Abubble and Shailesh Shinde went into top gear but were surprised to find that top-weighted Star Empire had weaved his way along the rails and was forging ahead under the stick. Kudos to trainer Patrick Quinn for pulling off a fine coup in a sweepstakes race. The RKW stable seems to have worked wonders for this schooler.

After a lung-opener over seven furlongs, Richard Alford-trained Raznandan (Razeen-Athabasca) lapped up the extra 400 metres and put his best foot forward to lift the Aya Toofan Cup. Shailesh Shinde rode a copybook race in that he permitted aged Sangoma to call the shots till the straight before deciding to take matters into his own hands. He needn’t have bothered to look back as the favourite  Silver Fox was a disinterested party in the rear of the field. Caravaggio ran an inexplicably poor race in the hands of PS Chouhan who finished the day with a ‘duck’. As I have said earlier and will repeat it again – jockeys are only as good as their mounts. As far as the punter is concerned, a good rider can guide a ‘potential winner’ home consistently but a bad one will make silly mistakes – intentionally or otherwise.

Jockey Shezad Khan completed a well-deserved double for trainer Arti Doctor when he rode a fine finish astride Amazing Speed (Mr Mellon-Aliventi) to get the better of Hurricane Andrew in the straight. Using his presence of mind to good effect, Shezad burrowed a passage along the rails and used the whalebone in his left hand to maintain a straight course. Shezad then brought the curtain down with a thunderous finish astride Silken Dancer to edge out the favourite Super Hero at the post.

Unfortunately, a serious dearth of 1000 metres races in this category compelled the connections of Super Hero to accept with him in a 1100 metres event. Otherwise, they could have taken a leaf out of Elusive Thought’s book (when she lost to Alacrity) and ensured that their ward runs in a 1000 metres race and not 1100 as was the case here.

Vijay Singh-trained Elusive Thought (Hurricane State-Elusive Conquest) made ample amends when she won the Prince Manoj Handicap over 1000 metres in the hands of Christopher Alford. The win gave the trainer and his patrons Mr HP Ramchandani and Rishad Ramchandani a grand double as they had earlier led in Melody Belle (Hook and Ladder-Santerelle) in the opening race of the day.

Beethoven obliged his backers  and connections when he won the Winfree Handicap as a well-backed favourite in amazing fashion. Jockey Mohit Singh was seen at his best atop Shafiq Khan’s ward.