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Super Storm Breezes Past an Erratic Equine Lover

By Mirror Image | 28 Sep 2012 | MYSORE


Mrs R. Rajamma & trainer S Narredu leading Super Storm (Suraj Narredu Up), winner of The Mysore 2000 Guineas (Gr.3)

Satish Narredu trained Super Storm (Rebuttal-Cielo Vodkamrtini) won the Mysore 2000 Guineas (Gr.3), which featured the day’s races at Mysore on Friday. The second classic of the season had attracted ten runners with Equine Lover being the only filly among them. The filly had won all her three races, starting from a 7 furlongs trip for maidens, then the Nawab M Arshad Ali Khan Memorial Cup and the latest being the Mysore 1000 Guineas. She had developed her own style of running and was growing to be a champion in the making. This was an enticement for the trainer S.Padmanabhan to pitch Equine Lover against the ‘boys’ for a Guineas double which only six fillies –Nicolette, Blue Ice, Birthday Girl, Golden Fantasy, Crown Treasure and Adamile- have been successful in achieving the feat on this track.

The filly’s performance when compared to the other nine in the race prompted the bookmakers to offer a short price while Southern Opinion from S.Ganapathy’s yard and Satish’s Super Storm were the only two who seemed to be in the reckoning as far as the action in the betting ring went, both going into the race at ‘eights’. Southern Opinion had decimated the opposition in a lead up race this season and looked to be heaving a fair chance. Super Storm had two big wins to his credit, the Governor’s Trophy and the Bangalore Juvenile Million (Gr.3) at Bangalore and his second to Borsalino in the Kingfisher Derby in ‘soft’ going was eye-catching.

There was a heavy downpour the previous evening and the track was indeed wet, although the ground which had gone dry after a long dry spell, took in most of the water. There was bright sunshine as the day started but the clouds congregated as the races progressed and a sharp shower came down during fourth race of the day, which further rendered the track sluggish.

Equine Lover likes to set her own pace and that’s what she did when the race took off. At the half way stage Equine Lover was still in front, followed by Absolute Majority, Samara Sun, Southern Opinion, Courage in Red, Treasure Mountain and Super Storm, with Unforgettable, Wind Stream and Cecil being the back-markers. Super Storm started to make headway before the turn for home and was a handy third behind Equine Lover and Southern Opinion. David Alan guided Equine Lover towards harder ground, away from the inner rails, as most of the riders would prefer to do under such sluggish going and Suraj Narredu was quick to follow the filly. Southern Opinion in the meanwhile went for the rails run. Approaching the distance post, Equine Lover started to veer out and was beginning to run erratic, under pressure. David kept using the stick on the right, despite the fact that the filly was leaning left and that was something most of her supporters failed to digest. Super Storm in the meanwhile inched closer and breezed past to emerge victorious. Equine Lover finished on, being second while the stable companion Unforgettable ended up in the third position.

The father-son duo, Satish and Suraj Narredu garnered the honours, having won on Sound (Juniper-Kamada) in the lower division of the Triveni Plate, earlier in the day. Following the front runners closely in about fifth position till entering the home stretch, Sound, made a smooth transition to go ahead with minimal effort from the saddle and won on a tight rein. Beautiful Life rallied along the rails to finish second ahead of Its My Party Darius Byramji trained Golden Viper (Golden Snake-Sorren To Steel) won the Alekona Trophy, a mile trip for horses rated 60 and above. Into the final run, Sudden Magic was the first to step up the momentum and went ahead. D.K.Ashish brought Golden Viper on the extreme outside and with a final spurt shot ahead to complete an encore. Sudden Magic finished second, in front of Ice Mint. Drop of Honey was permitted to be withdrawn.

Kiliminjaro (Ikhtyar-Ensenada) pulled off an upset victory in the Justice P.Medappa Memorial Trophy. The 5 year old from J.Babu Rao’s yard had not won a race for a long time but had ended up third to Talisker in his earlier outing a fortnight ago, indicating his return to form. Travelling about four away from the inner rails throughout the trip, Kiliminjaro inched closer to a tiring Alcazaar inside the last 250 metres and sped past. Formula One moved from the rear on the wide outside to finish second in front of Own Asset and Alcazaar in a cluster finish among the three. Active Grey was a non starter in the race.

Neil Darashah’s Cinamon Rush (Gaswar-Speed Mistress), who had finished second to Matias in her earlier run, made amends to justify the favouritism this time, in the higher division of the Margrove Estate Gold Cup. Leading saddle artist P.S.Chouhan waited patiently behind a wall of horses and weaved through confidently inside the final furlong, to emerge clear. Spark of Beauty tried her best to get to terms but found the winner too good and had to settle for the runner-up berth. African Queen who was prominently in front for a long time on the home stretch, finished third.

There were two close finishes in the day, where the winner could not be separated by the naked eye. One was that of War Artist and Angel Queen in the first race and the other involving Youre Stunning and Adonis.

Adonis started to creep up to the front running Unique Show on the straight and surged ahead with 100 metres left from home, in the lower division of the Margrove Estate Gold Cup. Youre Stunning (Hammerstein-Dizzy Heights) made headway from the rear and with a flying finish, joined Adonis at the wire. Jockey P.Mani was not sure if he had made it and returned to the unsaddling enclosure without waiting for the results and had to be sent back to the race track for the customary roll. Trainer K.Pradeep Annaiah was visibly relieved when the magic eye gave the result in favour of his ward Youre Stunning. A ‘paper thin’ margin separated the two.

Prasanna Kumar trainer War Artist (Gaswar-Fiercely Loyal) set off on a start to finish mission in the Lokapavani Plate, the opening race of the day and just managed to scrape through in a tight finish, from Angel Queen.

The 6 year old Savy Concept (Valid Concept-Streling Prospect) from Arjun Mangalorkar’s yard bounced back to win yet another race, in the higher division of the Triveni Plate. Savy Concept has won every alternate race in its last five attempts. Seven Heaven was in hot pursuit throughout the last 200 metres but fell short by three parts of a length at the finish.

F.Sirajuddin’s Something Different (Royal Gladiator-Romantic Dreams) picked up her second successive win in the Allies Serenade Plate, the concluding race of the day. Setting out in front from the word ‘go’, Something Different was clearly ahead of Recharged by over two lengths with still 200 metres left from the finish. The rider Valdir De Souza looked confident although Recharged started to close the gap towards the closing stages and went past the post three parts of a length ahead for a popular victory. This being a well backed favourite, Valdir received a roaring reception from his supporters. What A Warrior and Rock All were withdrawn before the race after they played up in the gates and hurt themselves.