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‘ACE’ DANCING PRANCES TRUMPS TALENTED AMELIA

By Mahendra Mallya | 24 Mar 2013 | MUMBAI


Dancing Prances (Trevor Patel Up), winner of The Forbes India Million

The ‘Amelia Vs Dancing Prances’ claim for the Forbes India Million couldn’t have been more accurate or exciting. The pair sailed clear of the rest by 10 lengths. Dancing Prances played the “Go, get it” strategy, while Amelia deployed the ‘wait-and-strike’ policy. In the end, there had to be only one winner, and the early bird got the plum.

Dancing Prances (Ace – Dancing Greens) sprang out of the gates and hit the front working up a lively pace. Panthera galloped a length behind the leader; Silsila and Amelia were close up next with La Traviata making her run on the outside, about four off the fence.

Dancing Prances led them into the straight and was travelling well. Amelia moved out and began her chase. Zervan’s elbows moved early as he set after Dancing Prances. Trevor only had to keep the momentum going and he got hard at work past the distance post, with Amelia was getting too close for comfort. Both Trevor and Zervan were giving their best as were Dancing Prances and Amelia. They fought out the final furlong courageously; however, it was Dancing Prances who held the upper hand right through to win by narrow three-quarters of a length, giving a lot to shout for, for the masses.

Dancing Prances was fast and furious and Amelia matched him in brilliance. The contest was of high quality and Dancing Prances pulled off a sensational victory in an admirable timing of 1:09:80, just shy of the course record - 1:09:62 clocked by Amadeus last year. While Dancing Prances deserved the standing ovation that he received, Amelia won the hearts for a wonderful performance in only her second run. To sum it up, it was a contest worthy of high praise.

Hachiko (Noverre – Indira) seems to have made the seven-furlong trip his own as he has never lost a race over the distance that he has essayed four times including the one on Sunday.  He etched his name over this distance by galloping to create a new record (1:21:70) while winning the Rusi Patel Trophy four weeks back. It was a clinical performance yet again and he won the Bangalore Turf Club Trophy with authority.

Saints N Sinners shot into the lead soon on settling down, passing Hachiko and Mighty Crusader in the process, Vittoria and Déjà vu were close behind, with Weizhou bringing up the rear.

Saints N Sinners guided them homewards and soon Hachiko gathered speed to take charge. Once in the lead, jockey A Sandesh astride Hachiko stepped on it.  Hachiko opened up to his known brilliance. He torched the turf and sped away with impressive strides looking good with every stride that he took towards the winning post. Vittoria tried her best to catch up but, Hachiko was far superior and finished off the job in a polished manner. Weizhou came from the last position to beat a listless Déjà Vu for the third spot.

It was a back to back double for jockey A Sandesh, who, in the earlier race had partnered Eclipsed to an upset victory over favourite Oxbridge. For Eclipsed (Senure – Infinite) this was a maiden victory on his tenth start.

Oxbridge was on a start to finish mission and dictate his own pace over the nine-furlong race. He entered the straight and marched on. Eclipsed who followed the leader into the straight was perseverant all through and kept on the tail of Oxbridge. Zambezi, the other fancied contender was too far from the action and was not exactly lightening fast to make ground in the early part of the straight.

Oxbridge now had a fight on his hands as Eclipsed grew stronger in the final furlong. The duo was involved in a grim battle with Eclipsed gaining on Oxbridge with the winning post in sight. Zambezi picked up speed a tad too late and worse was right behind the fighting duo. With Blue Knight on her outside she was headed to a collision course. With nowhere to go Zambezi had to apply the brakes and squander a good chance of making it to the top, rather front. Eclipsed finally caught up with Oxbridge and nosed out the favourite to earn his winning bracket the hard way in a very close finish.

Hawk of the Wind (Black Cash – La Pieta) picked up in form and dished out a cracking finish to peg back So True who too put up a brave show. Emerging Star, the prime fancy led the field as he is known to do. So True settled back in second with Hawk of the Wind in third and Monsieur Strauss lagging behind following a tardy start.

Into the start, Emerging Star was soon challenged by So True. The favourite was tackled by surprising ease as So True went ahead with encountering much resistance. Hawk of the Wind timed his run to perfection as he accelerated rather late but had a good momentum going. He covered ground briskly in the last 100 meters to win with a measure of comfort although the verdict may show otherwise. Emerging Star picked up once again to finish close behind the pair in front.

Bongani (Ikhtyar – Carmina Burana) picked up the last race of the day with a fiery show warding off a bunch of challengers that were getting too close to her heels in the closing stages of the race. Bongani shot ahead quickly off the gates and then let Apocalypse take over, content to chase him in second. The rest of the field was ambling behind in a tightly packed bunch.   

Apocalypse came into the straight with a useful lead but soon Bongani surged past and picked up speed. Zakynthos surfaced from the mid-bunch to go after Bongani. Seven Seas and Faramarz spread out to make their final bid. Trevor was just beginning to propel Seven Seas when he dropped his whip. Faramarz started to gain from the outside while Fortune Hunter was making his presence felt as well. Bongani never let her guard down and Zakynthos was finding it hard to get past the leader. Bongani bravely held on to the stiff challenge and plunged forward to win narrowly from Zakynthos. Faramarz managed to pip Fortune Hunter for the place money.  Smooth Operator was withdrawn at the gates.

Sheer Romance (Oath – Romantic Notes) galloped away to a facile victory giving no chance to her rivals once they turned for home. She was sharing the lead with Valorozky all the way into the straight. But once they turned for home, Sheer Romance accelerated remarkably well and shut out the opposition completely. She was all alone in the final furlong and dominated the race striding away majestically to an impressive victory. Valorozky fought hard to retake the second spot which was momentarily snatched by the favourite Stormyday. Stormyday was always in third and tried hard to make a race of it, but could not sustain her best for too long after moving into second past the distance post. He was further relegated to fourth as Pepe Senior finished on from behind to snatch the third spot.

Polynesia (Razeen – Pearls of Thought) found her touch and made this count to get her first taste of victory on her seventh start. She was fancied last time out as well but had petered out over the nine-furlong trip. This time with a furlong less to travel, she was kicking alive in the straight and scored a well-fought victory accounting for prime favourite Snow Flake.

Arabian Crown darted into the lead with Snow Flake in second, Danse Debonaire and Polynesia and this quartet formed the front bunch. AS they turned for home, the contest was reduced between Snow Flake and Polynesia. This pair soon sped away from the rest with Snow Flake taking the initiative early on. Polynesia came to challenge and was looking good. The pair was locked in a grim battle and both were going all out. In the last couple of strides, Polynesia produced a stronger finish and outlasted Snow Flake to return triumphant by just over a length. Sound of River improved to finish third ahead of Fairy Empress who did well to figure on the judge’s frame after losing some ground at the start.

Kohima Girl (Warrshan – Alice Charms) brought off a successful gamble and won without causing any anxiety to her backers. She was nowhere in the thick of action early on as Stylish Strokes shot into the lead with a pack of horses following her that comprised of Allegiance, Victorious Cause, Hot As Ice and Aleutian Zone. Kohima Girl was biding her time along the rails and her patience was rewarded when she got a dream opening on the rails. Ashhad Asbar didn’t wait for a second invitation and poked through and made a final charge. Kohima Girl bounded forward and in quick time surged past Stylish Strokes and then sped further away to post a convincing victory with a lot to spare.

Stylish Strokes galloped on to end runner up with Victorious Cause finishing in the money. Zoe after losing a couple of lengths at the start made some recovery finishing on well to hit the board. Always Smile, although being prominently poised at the bend, failed to make any impact on the race and ended in the rut.

National Pride (Gaswar – Super Mom) got the reward for a start to finish attempt. He took to the lead early and had Que Sera in pursuit. Favourite Super Satin was at the tail of the mid bunch and was close to the inner rails. AS the heads turned for home, National Pride quickened to establish a handy lead. Que Sera Sera was visibly gaining on National Pride with less than 300 to go and the rest including Super Satin were some distance away. At this point, the saddle on Que Sera Sera slipped and apprentice Nikhil Bhujbal was completely off balance and within a few strides he fell off his mount. Strategy swerved away and Palace Girl jumped over the jockey safely. Fortunately for Nikhil, he escaped unhurt and it was later announced that he was kept under observation.

National Pride kicked on and by the time Act of War got into the Act, National Pride had breezed past the winning post. Act of War showed better finishing skills this time and ran a good second. Strategy probably got jilted when Bhujbal fell but ran on to finish in the money.

For the professionals, trainer MK Jadhav saddled a double while jockeys A Sandesh, P Trevor and Shrikant Kamble scored a double each.