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TINTINNABULATION CREATES TURF HISTORY AT RCTC

By Epsom Ace | 03 Mar 2013 | KOLKATA


Mr Vijay Kumar Gupta receiving The Indian Turf Invitation Cup (Gr.1) from Excellency M K Narayanan, The Governor Of West Bengal

It was the  first Indian Turf Invitation Cup in 54 years where horses who were older than four years were permitted to run,  but at the end of the day none of the quartet of older animals in the field of 14 could match the outstanding winning gallop of the Hyderabad challenger Tintinnabulation. However, the more experienced runners showed that ratings do matter when six-year-old Ocean And Beyond finished runner-up, just a short-head ahead of third placed Onassis.

Horses have been known to make fools of men from time immemorial. It just so happened that they chose the most important date on the  Indian racing calendar to put their act together and lead the punters on a wild goose chase.

Trainer LVR Deshmukh’s Tintinnabulation from Hyderabad threw the form book out of the window as he raised a stupendous gallop opposite the grandstand to lift the prestigious Indian Turf Invitation Cup for his joint owners  - The estate of late Mr. Pratap Chander Reddy, Mr. Ashish Bajaj, Mr. Vijay Kumar Gupta and Mr. Sushil Kumar Gupta. The connections pocketed a winning purse of Rs 1 crore and a fancy trophy worth Rs 3 lakh.

Jockey PS Chouhan said after the race that he “sensed” victory near the distance post when two other unfancied runners (Ocean and Beyond and Onassis) were fighting for supremacy. He immediately showed the son of Intikhab out of Tourmalet daylight and went hell for leather, to ultimate win quite comfortably from the above named pair. Earlier in his career, Tintinnabulation used to love to run up front and fade out in the straight as he did in the Pune Derby where he finished ten lengths behind the winner Commander.  But with maturity, the colt has been taught by trainer Deshmukh and his able retained jockey Chouhan to run in mid-division and reserve his strength for a late burst as he did on this occasion. It is an amazing change of tactics by the colt which paid rich dividends.

The early part of the mile-and-half classic went according to script with Angel Crown setting a scorching pace but once the sole filly in the field Maple Star took over the running, things started going awry. Christopher Alford on local heartthrob Dandified took the longest route home to avoid traffic problems but the colt’s suspect stamina let him down in the home stretch.

The 11/4 favourite for the race Toroloco finished in the ruck and never looked like raising a gallop. He was a poor seventh behind the likes of Dandified, Hemisphere and An Acquired Taste.

Trainer Altamash Ahmed of An Acquired Taste had this to say after the race to this website: “ The handlers took a long time to load the other horses and my horse was standing in the stalls for a very long time. Hence, he suffered a lethargic start. Kamlesh urged him to move up but he said that he was not taking to the Kolkata turf kindly. He seemed to like the Mumbai track more. Furthermore, the journey from Mumbai took a toll on him and all these factors combined and led to his downfall. He still finished a close sixth only three lengths behind the winners, but frankly that is not good enough. I had higher hopes as I used Angel Crown as a pacemaker. I hope it will be a different story next time out.”

Pesi Shroff-trained Hemisphere was fancied by quite a large section of racegoers but unfortunately, the gelding failed to be positioned early in the race. It was anticipated that Richard Hughes would get him going into a striking position by the mid-way point but the horse ran in very much the same fashion as he had done in the Indian Derby. He languished in the rear and only made his move in the straight. Nevertheless, he finished a fairly good fifth after switching to the rails, only three lengths behind the winner and a short-head behind Dandified. A further three-parts of a length behind Hemisphere was An Acquired Taste.

Incidentally, Kolkata Derby winner Snowscape had hacked Tintinnabulation out of sight but was himself not sighted today. Perhaps the up-and-down trip to Mumbai to take a tilt at The Indian Derby was too much of a strain for him to handle as he is not the robust type. In contrast, Tintinnabulation went to Hyderabad and won the Derby there effortlessly before returning to Kolkata a different horse altogether.