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IMMENSE WINS THE MILE CHAMPIONSHIP CUP (GR.2)

By Pearcey | 09 Jun 2013 | BANGALORE


Immense (S John Up), winner of The Karnataka Mile Championship Cup (Gr.2)

A long and interesting card of nine events featured The Karnataka Mile Championship Cup (Grade II) on Sunday at Bangalore. Some of the best milers in the country were aimed at this prestigious trophy. Highly rated Machiavellianism from Hyderabad, and Montezuma, Hemisphere and Ambrosia from Mumbai , were opposed by eight local hopefuls. After her glorious winter campaign at Kolkata , Chase The Sun was given a start about two weeks ago. She was expected to improve on that showing . Arjun Mangalorkar’s pair of Ridgeway and Immense were also reported to be in fine nick. The present mile was better suited to Ridgeway’s style of running. Immense had run a fair fourth to Machiavellianism this season. Being marginally better at the weights today, he had the potential to reverse that verdict. However, the punters refused to look beyond Machiavellianism. According to them, he had a great chance over his favourite trip. The winner of the Indian 2000 guineas had won with a late burst of speed over seven furlongs this season , and was seen traveling comfortably at the finish on that occasion. With an extra furlong to travel in the day’s feature, they had ample confidence in his abilities and chose to support him with confidence. The Mumbai pair of Montezuma and Hemisphere cornered the rest of the betting.

Zervan and Montezuma shot out of the gates and set a good pace ahead of Ambrosia, Immense, Mountain Range and Ridgeway. While Hemisphere lost all his chances by taking a wayward jump at the start, Machiavellianism was held back by Srinath in mid group, as the runners tackled the first half of their journey. The group was tightly bunched till that stage, and it wasn’t easy to know who was traveling better than the other. Montezuma came under pressure in the straight, and we saw quite a few runners progressing towards him. While Immense and Machiavellianism moved steadily on his outside, Chase The Sun and Ridgeway rallied along the inner rails. The sight of this closely packed group raised expectations in the stands. Amidst loud cheering and shouting, John managed to steer Immense to narrow victory over stablemate Ridgeway, Machiavellianism and Montezuma. Just about a length covered the first four finishers. Arjun Mangalorkar’s cup of joy was filled to the brim with this one-two finish. Despite conceding chunks of weight to the field, Machiavellianism ran a gallant race to finish so close to the winner. This group is sure to meet again later in the season.

On a day when almost all favourites took a beating, jockey Imran Chisty was the lone professional to score a treble. In fact, his tally would have been even higher but for his narrow losses astride Ridgeway and Scuffle. He began with an exciting  victory on Sirajuddin’s Impressiveattitute, This 10/1 outsider was attempting to get the better of half money favourite Kentucky Rose. After her third behind Isn’t She Special in maiden company, many felt that the Neil Darashah trainee was lucky to be rated in the lowest category. The speedy filly was benefited by the allowance claimed by apprentice Arshad Alam, and for those who love to back short-priced favourites, this looked like a good opportunity. Kentucky Rose and Lightning Express tore away from the pack and were quite a few lengths ahead of the chasing group as the runners turned for home. With Lightning Express getting exhausted, Kentucky Rose was the first into the straight. After maintaining her momentum past the distance post, she sent shivers down the spine of her backers by slowing down perceptibly. Impressiveattitude and Simra moved menacingly  from the back, and in a matter of seconds, went ahead of her. The two of them flashed past the winning post almost together and had to be separated by the judge. An announcement confirmed that Imran Chisty and Impressiveattitude had gotten the better of Suraj Narredu’s Simra.

He scored the second point astride Patrick Quinn’s Paras Mani. She attracted a lot of attention in the paddock because of her impeccable condition. Since her trainer felt that she may need a start on the Bangalore track, the Kolkata based filly was allowed to participate as a 25/1 outsider. The attention was focused on Padmanabhan’s Artorius. He looked outstanding in The Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Cup, which happened to be a handicap for horses in class III. After winning a maidens race, and  running second behind Miracle Memories subsequently in The Juvenile Million, Artorius was appearing for the first time in “open” company. He began as a half money choice of the punters, but with the bookmakers getting desperate to lay him, the odds against this favourite more than doubled to 13/10. It was rumoured that this horse had been away from the training track for the last few days. Paras Mani carried Imran Chisty to the front and set a strong pace ahead of Scarlet O’hara and Artorius. All three of them were in close order, as the runners turned for home. The first horse beaten in this race was Artorius. The moment Sandesh asked him to quicken in the straight, he rolled inwards and continued to plod behind the leader. Paras Mani galloped resolutely and just about lasted out to win from Scarlet O’hara and a late finishing Noble And Nice. The winner is sure to strip fitter after today’s exercise and progress comfortably from her present mark

Imran continued his run with outsiders, by riding a third winner named Prince Of Darkness. This huge horse, weighing 515 kilos, was carrying the bottom weight in a seven furlong race reserved for horses aged four years old and over in class IV. Trainer Dominic had given him a lot of work this season. Irfan Ghatala’s Wind Force had run an impressive race on debut and finished a good second to Dance Of A General a few weeks ago. With Suraj in the saddle, he was a strong favourite to land the spoils. Taking off nicely from an inner draw, Prince Of Darkness led at a steady pace from Divine Deliverance and the others. Wind Force lacked early speed and was seen traveling in mid group as the runners turned for home. Imran Chisty pulled out his stick on Prince Of Darkness and asked him to quicken. Srinath produced Divine Deliverance towards the centre of the track, while Suraj brought Wind Force with a steady run on the very wide outside. The first two were still a couple of lengths ahead of Wind Force at that stage. Realizing that his horse was shying away, and rolling outwards under pressure, Imran put away his stick. He got the desired result by pushing him hands-n-heels. Prince Of Darkness responded by lengthening his strides and romping home to a comfortable victory. Divine Deliverance and Wind Force dead-heated for the runner-up berth.

A superb turn-of-foot displayed by Malesh Narredu’s first-timer Lovely Lady, enabled her to decimate the opposition in The Everynsky Trophy. She was the first leg of a double scored by Suraj Narredu today. There were a number of highly regarded maidens taking part in this race. Dhariwal’s Rumour Has It and Nosher Cama’s Veritas were the other two that received strong support with the bookmakers. Along with Lovely Lady, all three were reported to be in fine nick. Making use of her innermost draw, Lovely Lady was sent to the front. She was so keen to tear away, that Suraj had to use some of his strength to restrain her from doing so. Maracana , Sue Nevell and Rumour Has It were seen struggling to match strides with this filly. Lacking early speed, Veritas too found it difficult to keep pace with those in front of her. Lovely Lady raced all alone in front and continued to accelerate in the straight. She was so far ahead of the others that Suraj had little hesitation in allowing her to relax in the final furlong. Rumour Has It and a late rallying Veritas moved ahead of the rest to take the minor berths on the result boards. The winner is talented a specimen that can be supported confidently over a sprint in her next start.

Suraj picked up the very next race with Neil Darashah’s Auburn Beauty. The well built chestnut filly opened as a fancied runner in this mile event for horses in class II. Her second to Mountain Range in her last start in winter was considered to be good enough to win today. However, with money flowing in the direction of Ratham and Sandstorm, the odds against Auburn Beauty doubled in quick time.  Sandstorm tried his usual tactics by setting a strong pace from the start. He galloped freely ahead of Auburn Beauty, Severstahl and Ratham. There was no appreciable change in the order as the runners tackled the rising ground and turned for home. With Suraj showing her daylight around the bend, Auburn Beauty collared Sandstorm in the straight and went sailing clear of her seven rivals. Her fluent strides allowed her to dominate the rest of this race. With nothing coming from behind, Sandstorm continued to hold second ahead of Ratham and a late rushing Spaniard.  

A class IV sprint appeared to be a straight fight between Anfield and Scuffle. Both these runners were blessed with early speed and were known to have an identical style of running. They had won in winter by making every post a winning one. It was Scuffle who got down to business from the word “go”, and the big made horse made use of his fluent strides to open up a fairly comfortable lead into the straight. At about the same time, Anfield showed little interest in the proceedings and was seen plodding at the back. The one that displayed urgency at the bend was Md Khan’s Steel King. He was seen making steady progress in the back-stretch and the six year old looked threatening in the final furlong. Even though Scuffle was marginally ahead of him, it was evident that Steel King was poised to score an upset victory. That is exactly what happened. Under some strong riding from Rajesh Kumar, Steel King went ahead near the finishing line and won by a “neck” from the leader. My Favourite Voice made a late bid on the wide outside to beat Anfield into fourth place.

The trend of the favourites getting beaten continued right upto the last race, when a heavily supported Ice Kingdom failed narrowly in her mission to collar a runaway One From A Billion. This was the third straight time that this grey filly had taken down the punter’s money. Her rider Vinod Shinde was unable to place her advantageously in the first half of the seven furlong trip, and had to be content to travel in mid group as the dozen horses turned for home. One From A Billion and See You Later held centre stage in the straight, and were seemingly poised to dominate this event. A couple of things changed in the final furlong. While See You Later faltered under pressure, a large and yawning gap through the middle of the group enabled Ice Kingdom to move forward. The favourite devoured ground thereafter, but all she could manage was to finish on the haunches of Satish Narredu’s One From A Billion. Ashish did well to keep front-runner going till the very end. See You Later hung on precariously to her third spot by keeping Beautiful Life and London Eye at bay.