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Rising Rainbow Wins The Governor’s Cup

By Pearcey | 12 Oct 2012 | MYSORE


Mr Ramesh S Mehta & trainer C D Monnappa leading Rising Rainbow (D Gnaneshwar Up), winner of The Governor's Cup

A brilliant burst of speed near the final bend enabled Rising Rainbow to land the rich prize and The Governor’s Cup at the Mysore races on Friday. The five years old put it across a couple of highly regarded younger opponents in this race. Even though Rising Rainbow had performed well in her last start, wherein she had conceded eleven kilos to the three year old Maths Baby and ended a four length third to him, there weren’t many who gave her a chance to win against the likes of Golden Viper and Inquisition. This pair from the Darius stable had remained unbeaten this season. Both had won twice over slightly shorter trips, but their manner of running had indicated that the mile and a quarter was well within their compass. One could not forget a race in Bangalore summer in which Inquisition had lost on the post to Indian Bolt. The latter had gone on to win a number of races thereafter in the highest class, and further franked that form by picking up a terms event at Mysore. However, Golden Viper’s better acceleration in the straight tilted the balance and he started as a clear favourite to land this coveted trophy. Inquisition and Rising Rainbow had some support from their respective camps.

Magnitude Star and Elite Land fought for an early advantage, and it was the former who succeeded in putting his neck in front as the runners traveled the first quarter mile in this race. Absolute Reality and Rising Rainbow   followed in close order, while the other four were strung out in single file as they made further progress. After a sluggish start, Golden Viper was seen trailing the pack. The field began to bunch up near the bend. Gnaneshwar brought Rising Rainbow on the wide outside, and after skirting the front-runners, went ahead of them. Srinath and Valdir De Souza made their moves astride Inquisition and Spark Of Silver at almost the same juncture. There was no question about the superiority of Rising Rainbow at this stage. She was responding to Gnaneshwar’s urgings and striding freely towards the winning post. After a brief duel with Inquisition, Spark Of Silver got the better of him and sailed into second place. Golden Viper shocked his fans with a pathetic performance. He ran no sort of a race to end in second last position. The handicapper seems to have caught up with him and it may take Golden Viper a while to re-enter the winners enclosure. 

This was Gnaneshwar’s double for the day, as he had already scored with Faraz Arshad’s Well Known. After a few unplaced efforts in maidens company during winter and summer, the three year old was running at his own mark. There was so little known about his capabilities that he was allowed to start as a 50/1 rank outsider. Satish Narredu’s Absolute Joy was backed as though defeat was out of the question, and sent to the post as a piping hot favourite. His second to Thunder was considered to be a worthy effort. Well Known bolted out of an extreme draw and settled to lead from Absolute Joy and Prom Queen. Both these fancied horses were being held back for a late charge, as their riders expected Well Known to get tired in the straight. However, they were in for a shock. Well Known decided to kick further and move strongly towards the winning post. Suraj gave a few cracks to Absolute Joy and was quick to realize his helplessness. The favourite called it a day and was the first horse beaten in this race. Prom Queen rallied aling the rails to run a close second.

The Smt Maliniraje Prasad Memorial Gold Trophy was the added attraction in the day’s card. This sprint handicap for class II runners was restricted to older horses. A fair second in her last start in a similar race saw Prasanna Kumar’s Nessie enjoying public patronage. Affirmative, Capote, Abnoba and Ben Ten had run poor races earlier in the season, and on that form, it was difficult to visualize any of them scoring today. In the end, it was Suleiman Attaollahi’s decision to ease Capote’s burden by entrusting him to apprentice Mudassar, that proved to decisive. After a poor start, Capote joined Daring Dynamite in the straight and stormed clear of him. After traveling wide in the back-stretch, Srinath had to use all his skills while coaxing Nessie to get up in time to take the runner-up berth. Capote is known to be a moody customer, who has proved to be a bit unreliable in the past. It is easy to confirm that he would have won today’s race with any jockey, as this win was the easiest during Friday afternoon. 

Attaollahi’s other winner was Cielo Signore. The three year old ran away with the lower division of The V Vijay Kumar Memorial Cup and re-confirmed the good opinion that he had created very early in his career. It is easy to remember the day he had started as an odds-on choice in a maidens event against the talented Equine Lover. Being outdone for early speed, he had rallied late to take the second spot. Cielo Signore’s job was much easier today. He was receiving weight from the fancied pair of Divine Deliverance and Nickel Chrome in this sprint handicap for horses rated 40-65. With the bottom weighted Amar Prem darting to the front and setting a strong pace ahead of Divine Deliverance, Trevor was content to wait with Cielo Signore. He exploited his brilliant turn of foot only in the straight. With Divine Deliverance caving-in without a fight, Cielo Signore marched in solitary splendour towards the winning post. With a late bid on the extreme wide outside, Nickel Chrome moved smoothly into second place. Both the winner and the second placed filly are expected to move up the ladder. 

Sirajuddin’s Impressive Bolt made up for his previous loss as a favourite by running away with the upper division of the above race. Valdir DeSouza gave him an immaculate ride and ensured that there was none who came close to him.  Tracking the speedy Scenic Blast till well into the straight, and evading his outward drift near the distance post, Valdir waited patiently for a while. He put his mount in top gear in the final furlong and sailed clear of the opposition. Not wanting to take any chances, he continued to use his whip till they crossed the winning post. Last outing winner Decorated took down a lot of good money by performing poorly. She found her winning penalty a stopper and settled for the third place. Sussex Downs was apparently there only for an “outing”, and she will be a different proposition on her return to the Bangalore track. 

Some hard riding from Srinath enabled Byramji’s Make My Day to score an overdue victory this season. The Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club Cup, a mile handicap for horses in Class III, attracted a full group of a dozen runners. After a number of futile efforts in the higher category, Make My Day was running in this lower set. Even though she was carrying the top weight, her recent form was fairly suggestive. With some stray support for Always On Top, this race developed an “open” look. Rank outsider Grand Success did his customary front-running and set a good pace ahead of Make My Day and Kripa. Those who expected Grand Success to get tired and fade out of contention in the straight were somewhat surprised. The gelding stuck to his task and kept going. Sarang appeared late towards the inner rails and moved strongly towards the leading pair. The action near the final post was very close. Make My Day, Grand Success and Sarang were inseparable at the wire. They finished in the above order with only a head separating the three of them. 

The KT Shamaiah Gowda Memorial Trophy went to Pratap Kamath’s Theworldismine.  The winner was the second favourite behind a strongly supported Formidable. While Formidable and Time Matters were attempting to score encores, the other runners in this race had little recent form to support their credentials. The only indicator favouring Theworldismine was the presence of jockey PS Chouhan. The Kamath stable has enjoyed a fair bit of success in recent months with his assistance, and today’s victory was ample proof of this phenomenon. Chouhan took a reasonable jump with Theworldismine, but was soon caught in a traffic jam. With nowhere to go, he held up his mount and dropped out of contention. Thereafter, he gradually improved his position on the wide outside and moved towards Queen’s Cruise and Huckleberry Finn. With Theworldismine tending to duck inwards, Chouhan had a tough time in getting him on an even keel. Once he succeeded in doing that, the job looked slightly easier. The six year old devoured ground to beat Queens Cruise near the post. Queens Colour made up late ground to run into third place. The winner looks capable of defying the handicapper in his next start. 

The day had begun with an outstanding display of acceleration by Lake Of Magic in a sprint reserved for horses in the lowest category. The four year old filly had figured a couple of times on the board, and given signals of an early success. In an ordinary set of horses, she was installed as a firm favourite. However, with the odds against her beginning to expand alarmingly close to race time, not many punters had the guts to back her. Vaideeshwaran kept the Rakesh trainee in mid group and allowed Cute Angel, Bahman and Count Royal to make the early running. Lake Of Magic improved gradually on her own and joined the leading pack in the final furlong. The moment her jockey gave Lake Of Magic a backhander, the race was over. She literally flew away from her rivals and won by a huge margin. Count Royal ambled into second place ahead of a late finishing Small Made and Bahman.