B Puttanna’s Jersey Girl re-discovered her winning ways and waltzed away with The Ashwapriya Cup, the feature in a card of nine events held at Bangalore on Friday. The winner of The 1000 Guineas in November had somehow lost her galloping shoes in The Bangalore Oaks and The Winter Derby. It perhaps had more to do with the longer trips, rather than a physical impediment. Jersey Girl showed that she had limitations of stamina by ending a long way behind the winners. The trainer did well to give her a longish break from racing and brought her out over a more suitable trip in the day’s feature. This seven furlong handicap for horses in class II, saw Jersey Girl carrying a back-breaking weight of 62 kilos. However, she looked so much superior in terms of class and ability that the punters had little hesitation in backing her with confidence. The other eight in this race had modest form and one could give them a chance only if the filly flopped. 

The nine runners got off to a level start. Trevor showed some urgency and took Courage In Red to the front, while Jersey Girl, Esteban and Clever Trick raced in close proximity of the leader. The order remained exactly the same as they took the rising ground and turned for home. While Courage in Red came under some sort of pressure at that stage, Jersey Girl was seen moving well within herself. A couple of taps saw her joining the front-runner. Christopher waved his whip at Jersey Girl and she continued to get stronger and stronger. In the end, she scored by a comfortable margin from Courage in Red. The action at the back was almost similar. Esteban got tired in the final stages and disappeared from the scene. This allowed Clever Trick to move into the third spot. An announcement confirmed that Clever Trick had burst a blood vessel during the running of this race. Trainer Puttanna is likely to exploit the winner over similar trips in future, and the filly is sure to do well for his stable in the summer. 

Christopher and PS Chouhan were the only professionals to score more than once on Friday. Apart from Jersey Girl, the former had picked up the day’s opener with Faraz Arshad’s Refreshed. The colt had run a couple of forward races and just about managed to stay away from the board. He was lucky to get relegated to the lower division of a maiden’s race over 1100 metres. All Christopher had to do was to push Refreshed into an early lead and sit tight thereafter. His mount hugged the rails and loved his solitude in front. A reminder near the distance post was all that was required to keep him going. Silhouette chased him all the way to end a respectable second. Under Raja Rao’s enthusiastic handling, Ganapathy trained Authentic Stride made up ground from the back to take the third spot and land a “Place Gamble” for his connections. 

The upper division of this maidens event saw a four way fight between Kafka, Strombolite, Mantra and Conrod. On the basis of her fine second behind Cristoffe earlier in the season, Strombolite looked outstanding in this race. She was accordingly available at 11/10 with the bookmakers. The favourite took a good jump and settled into a nice lead ahead of Mantra, Conrod and Kafka. All three that were chasing her were running for the first time in their careers. The backers of the favourite began to get worried in the straight. Strombolite did not show the desired acceleration and continued to plod in front. She was able to beat back a strong challenge from Conrod and Mantra, but once Kafka made his move from behind, she had no answers. In the strong and powerful hands of champion jockey PS Chouhan, Dhraiwal trained Kafka finished like a train and overtook the three of them. Only a length covered those that had figured on the result boards. With this victory, trainer Dhariwal seems to have strengthened his grip on the Champion Trainer Trophy, as he has gone three points clear of Irfan Ghatala.

This was Chouhan’s second win, as he had already scored with Arjun Magalorkar’s Greyconnection in a mile race earlier in the afternoon. Having ridden Greyconnection in her last start, Chouhan had a fair idea about the abilities of this filly. Changing his tactics, he rode her differently today. Pushing the filly from the word “go”, he took her to the front and opened up a fair lead into the straight. Taking out his stick thereafter, he goaded the filly to maintain her momentum. It became evident in the final furlong that there was no catching her in this race. While Wind Tunnel and Deep Blue Sea made a feeble effort on the wide outside and took the minor placings, strongly backed Ice Storm performed like a damp squib. He was totally one-paced and failed to quicken when urged by his jockey. The fact that he was asked to tackle a mile within seven day’s of making a belated debut to his career, was something that he could not handle.

The Vijayanagar Cup, a sprint for horses rated 40-65, produced one of the closest finishes of the afternoon. Dhariwal trained Whistlejacket, who was a firm favourite to win this event,  ran a pathetic race and ended in the ruck. The action in front was quite interesting. Christopher took Sharat Kumar’s Flying Tricolour to the front and all but succeeded in his mission. The pair enjoyed a comfortable lead ahead of Point Taken till the final furlong. Flying Tricolour managed to shake off Point Taken’s challenge at that stage, but had no answers to the final acceleration of Rich Celebration. Ashhad Asbar brought her with a nicely timed run to beat the front-runner on the post. While Point Taken retained her third slot, the others were not even sighted. Incidentally, this was Rich Celebration’s third victory this winter. 

A  handicap for horses five years old and over in class IV was split into two divisions. The upper version witnessed   the defeat of clear favourite Wonder Lash. This Puttanna trainee looked like a winner most of the way, but was unable to match the final acceleration of Inayathulla’s Inspirator. Wonder Lash overtook early leaders Rise To Glory and Cash Is King near the bend and charged towards the winning post. Vivek ridden Inspirator was running under cover in fourth spot till that stage. Inspirator was produced towards the centre of the track and asked to quicken. He improved his position with each successive stride and moved ahead of the leader. In a scramble for the minor slots, Brigade’s Supreme came from way off the pace to save place money for his backers.

The lower division produced an even more shocking result. 35/1 rank outsider Jewel Lady made every post a winning one and managed to hold on by a diminishing margin from Hatchet Harry and Alianz. Course favourite Affirmator got left at the gates and took no practical part in this race. Making full use of her innermost draw, DK Ashish pushed Jewel Lady to the front and set a comfortable pace ahead of a tightly bunched group of runners. While Independence Day was seen improving through the middle, the horse that caught one’s eye was Hatchet Harry. Forced to travel wide all the way, he was seen gaining ground on the leaders. Apprentice Ramu guided him perfectly and brought him into contention. The lack of a whip was what finally made the difference. While Ashish kept waving his stick at Jewel Lady, Ramu had to depend on his hands and heels. However, with this confident performance in the saddle, Ramu confirmed that he is improving with each ride. 

A fascinating run by Amit Caddy’s Trust Me Boy enabled this four year old to trounce his class V rivals. It is rare to see a horse winning a handicap event by over thirteen lengths at this centre, and that is exactly what he did. The connections were obviously nap on him, as they had no fear in backing him down to even-money in a fourteen horse field. And all this was done with raw apprentice Ramu in the saddle. Trust Me Boy, who had never figured on board in quite a few starts, looked very well in the paddock. He took off to a fairly good start and tracked Ordered Steps and Tic Tac Toe till the bend. Once Ramu released the brakes, the race was over. Within the next few moments, he detached himself from the rest and sauntered clear of Happy Victory, Tic Tac Toe and the others. What was even more impressive was the timing he clocked for this exercise. His finishing time was just about a second slower than that clocked by Jersey Girl in the day’s feature. Amit is sure to win many more races with this horse in the coming months.