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RISING POWER SLAMS OPPOSITION

By Epsom Ace | 24 Jul 2013 | KOLKATA


Mr Amirul Islam receiving The Great Tribute Cup from Mr Subir Dasgupta

It was an afternoon of mixed fortunes for punters at RCTC on Wednesday. While popular jockey Christopher Alford registered a well-backed double, a couple of neglected runners in the form of Rocket Ball and Follow The Dream found their way into the winner’s enclosure in a short card of six races.

Current winter champion jockey Shailesh Shinde, who had given the inaugural day a bye, started his monsoon campaign with a bang as he piloted his first mount of the afternoon, Richest Treasure (Mull of Kintyre-Gorgeous Princess), to a glorious start-to-finish victory in the Retort Handicap. The on-money public choice Uniqueness drifted out alarmingly at the bend, but considering that it was her maiden start, she may be excused. Blind followers of money will have to take the rap for this one as both the winner and Carnival Point had far superior credentials to her. After this forward lung-opener however, she may be considered a force to deal with in the future.

Shinde stole the thunder in the last race of the afternoon with a spectacular finish astride Javed Khan-trained Follow The Dream (Tirol-Masawara). Neglected in the ring for no apparent reason, the five-year-old mare, after a good jump-out, was held in check by Shinde, till the top of the straight while front-runners Cee Four, Arbroath and Hurricane Star battled for the lead. Shinde made his move along a tight space close to the railings in the final furlong and pulled off a difficult victory. Once again, a false-favourite in the form of Beyond Stars ate into punters’ pockets.

One race earlier, trainer Javed Khan had led in his first winner of the day in the form of Rising Power (Warrshan-Miss Rising). Jockey Shezad Khan took no chances as he made the sprint for the Great Tribute Cup a start-to-finish affair. Bullet followed the winner home without ever threatening to overhaul him. The rest were never really in it.

Jockey Christopher Alford opened his account with Manavendra Singh-trained Avision in the curtain-raiser of the afternoon – The Turf Hawk Handicap. The favourite Moonlit Sky (a three-year-old filly) was no match for the seasoned four-year-old. In this respect, it may be pertinent to mention here that whenever three-year-olds run in open company in the early part of the monsoon season, they may find the opposition stiff as they were not beneficiaries of the 5kg scale-drop (rightly so as they are just beginning their careers).

However, if a three-year-old is a cut above the rest as in the case of Adabella (Multidimensional-Serrafina) in the Flower Dust Handicap, then the youngster will have no problem whatsoever in overcoming the opposition. She was Vijay Singh’s sole winner of the day and piloted flawlessly by Alford. Seven-year-old Rithambhra was a faraway second.

The biggest outsider of the day was Daniel David’s Rocket Ball (Gaswar-Alannah) in the Metallic Handicap. The race also witnessed the debacle of another youngster – Alcander. The highly rated colt failed to collar front-running Songstress despite Alford’s best efforts. The six-year-old winner moved up from mid-division in straight under the urgings of jockey I.Khan.