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SPIRITUALITY IS TOO STRONG FOR HER OPPONENTS

By Pearcey | 06 Sep 2013 | MYSORE


Trainer Dinesh Pujar leading Spirituality (JH Christopher Up), winner of The Mrs.Ammani Ramachandran Memorial Trophy

A fairly ordinary card of eight events was conducted at the Mysore races on Friday. In the absence of a top class event, an age group race for Mysore based horses, was accorded the pride of place as the day’s feature. The Mrs Ammani Ramachandran Memorial Trophy, a seven furlong handicap for those in class III, managed to attract only eight runners. Only three amongst them seemed to have a realistic chance of landing the spoils. A small made Spirituality had raced against much superior company in the past, and was now reverting to her winning mark. Even though this Dinesh Pujar trainee was short of a run in recent months, there was little doubt that she possessed the requisite credentials to resume her winning ways. Pratap Kamath’s Sanatana had run a blinder while carrying the top weight in the lower category, and with Arshad Alam claiming another two kilos off her back today, she qualified as the ‘handicap chance” in this race. Darashah’s Brave Assault was the other one that was suited over the present trip. With Suraj in the saddle, he too had fair support with the bookmakers. The three of them shared the betting, as the runners began to enter the starting gates. 

Taking off smoothly from the inner-most draw, the speedy Sanatana set a good pace ahead of Spirituality, Brave Assault and Yamas. The other four in this race were already off the bridle as the runners tackled the first half of their journey. Finding the pace a trifle slow, Brave Assault made a quick move near the three furlong marker and joined Sanatana, as the runners took the rising ground and turned for home. With Arshad Alam waving his whip, Sanatana quickened nicely and led by a couple of lengths in the straight. After Brave Assault faded out of contention, it was time for Spirituality and Yamas to make their respective moves. Responding brilliantly to Christopher’s handling, Spirituality produced a sparkling turn-of-foot and strode clear of the pack. She showed that she was much too strong for her present opponents. Even though Yamas made up a lot of ground in the last furlong, he was unable to displace Sanatana from the runner-up berth. The winner is sure to make her presence felt amongst local horses after getting promoted to a higher category. 

The other interesting race in the day’s card was The JH Foley Memorial Cup. This nine furlong handicap for those rated between 40-65 is generally used by three year olds to get ready for the Mysore Classics. This year, only two of them decided to make use of this opportunity. While Neil Darashah’s Perfect Soul carried a heavy impost, Padmanabhan’s My Lakshmi was seen getting more than five kilos from him. Even then, the bookmakers were careful while offering 80/100 on the top-weighted contender. In this small group of five, the three older horses were completely ignored by the punters. Once John realized that he was unable to hold back Perfect Soul in the early stages of the race, he allowed the chestnut to set his own pace. Going at a steady gallop, Perfect Soul showed the way to My Lakshmi and Thrillseeker. There was never a doubt about the final outcome of this race. While Perfect Soul was travelling on tight reins, the others were seen being niggled at the bend. John had a cheeky look behind him before easing his mount. Perfect Soul sailed past the winning post, well clear of Euphoria and My Lakshmi. Those who had supported the filly were clearly disappointed with her performance. On this showing, My Lakshmi may take a long time to re-enter the winner’s enclosure. As regards Perfect Soul, he seems to have improved a lot over the past few months. 

Leading jockey Suraj Narredu was the only professional to score more than once on Friday. He began the day with a victory astride Amit Caddy’s Bounty Hunter, and added another point to his tally by partnering a small made filly named Cannes to her maiden victory. Bounty Hunter was the shortest priced favourite in the day’s card. He had been steadily brought down in his ratings, and since the present opposition was fairly mediocre, there was a lot of optimism amongst his followers. They felt that all he needed to do was to stay out of trouble while completing the course. Those who had backed him at 60/100 were in for a shock. The blinkered favourite travelled prominently till the bend, and was alongside Spark Of Harmony and Gift Of Love, as they turned for home. It was here that Suraj put him under pressure. He failed to accelerate any further and was seen plodding along the rails. A couple of others made good progress from behind. With less than a hundred metres still to go, we had four of them in a line. Bounty Hunter, Gift Of Love, Vega and Alpine Shine were almost abreast as they scampered towards the finishing lines. With luck favouring them on Friday, the punters were delighted to hear the judge’s result. Bounty Hunter had scored in a blanket finish from the other three. 

Suraj’s win astride Cannes was relatively easy. The tiny filly weighed a little more than 360 kilos on Friday. The three year old had run a couple of times against maidens at Bangalore, and had finished off the board on both occasions. Satish Narredu chose to run her at her own mark of 23 in handicap company, and asked Suraj to guide her fortunes. A Mysore based youngster named Oscar Sparkler, who had already won against local maidens, was conceding much weight to Cannes. However, he looked fairly well in the paddock and was backed accordingly to start as the first choice of the punters. An un-fancied Delilah skipped to the front and set a good pace ahead of Cannes and Oscar Sparkler. They raced in close order for most of the way. Oscar Sparkler gained a slight advantage over Cannes in the final furlong, while the others faded out of contention. It was hereabouts that Suraj asked his filly a question. He pulled out his stick and urged her to “go”. Cannes dug deep into her reserves of stamina, increased the momentum and skipped clear of Oscar Sparkler. She won much easier than the official verdict announced by the judge. 

A king-size gamble was landed by the connections of Shoot Out on Friday. This Narayana Gowda trainee had been kept under wraps for a fairly long time, and the camp did well to wait for some weak opposition at Mysore. Even though horses like The Guardian, Saratoga Spring and Blue Star were installed at the top of the betting boards, one couldn’t back any of them with confidence. Once big money started to flow in the direction of Shoot Out, there were many who joined the band-wagon. Beginning at 8/1 and over, Shoot Out finally leapt out of the starting gates as the 18/10 favourite in this race. Arshad Alam had Shoot Out in box-seat for most of the way. The pair tracked early leader Blue Star till the bend before cruising ahead of him. A couple of taps in the straight was all that was required thereafter. Shoot Out galloped resolutely to post a very popular victory. In a fight for the minor placings, Saratoga Spring came from way off the pace to finish ahead of A Game To Remember and The Guardian. 

Darius Byramji’s Haute Ecole ran the best race of her career while accounting for a couple of fancied opponents. She pocketed the upper division of The Nanie And Sons Trophy with ridiculous ease. The presence of Somethingdifferent, Lagoona and Raaga gave a competitive look to this race. The first named had run a number of times this year, and had failed to make much of an impression in all her starts. However, since she had worked brilliantly after dropping down to the present category, she received all round support ahead of the others. The presence of Suraj Narredu in the saddle added to the hype around this filly. She was a known front runner, and the connections felt that she possessed too much speed as compared to the others. However, the start of this race displayed an entirely different picture. While Haute Ecole and Raaga went easily into the lead, Somethingdifferent was finding it tough to stay in touch with them. The positions remained exactly the same till they crossed the finishing line. The only thing that changed at the end was the margins between each one of them. Haute Ecole responded to Imran Chisty’s whip and sped away from Raaga and a hard ridden Somethingdifferent. 

The last race of the day saw a number of horses getting withdrawn on race day morning. Fancied runners like Prazsky and Sue Nevell along with rank outsiders Private Party and Bala’s Dream were withdrawn on veterinary grounds. This led to a peculiar scenario. Last outing winner Cruise Clear was installed as a money back favourite in this race. Even though she had only won a race in the lowest category, and had resultantly been pushed up almost a full class, it was difficult to spot a worthy opponent. Suraj took Cruise Clear to the front and tried to run away with this race. She was followed for most of the way by Cool Baby and One Two Ka Four. The leader began to tire in the straight and this permitted Cool Baby to come close to her. With both riders going for their whips, it became a close affair. Finally, it was Cool Baby who showed a lot of resolve by responding to HG Rathod’s riding and nailing Cruise Clear near the winning post. Bottom-weighted Secret Touch appeared late on the scene to finish a fair third.