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WIND OF SOUL SCORES AN EASY VICTORY

By Pearcey | 20 Sep 2013 | MYSORE


Trainer S Narredu leading Wind Of Soul (Suraj Narredu Up), winner of The Air Force Trophy Div-I

An ordinary card of nine events was held in softish going at the Mysore Race Club on Friday. After an inspection in the morning, the authorities decided that they would go ahead with the announced programme. The Air Force Trophy, a sprint handicap for horses in class II, was slated as the day’s feature. The presence of Absolute Majority, Impressive Bolt, Flying Tricolour, Wind Of Soul and Lads Ability, gave this race an “open” look. Since Absolute Majority had lost as a firm favourite in his previous start at Mysore due to severe traffic problems, there were many amongst the betting public who were ready to give him another chance. Not only was he the youngest horse on this race, but Absolute Majority had also posted a couple of smart victories during the Bangalore summer season. For this very reason, he started as a marginal favourite ahead of the others. Once the speedy pair of Flying Tricolour and Lads Ability had sprinted into a healthy lead, the others headed by Wind Of Soul and Smokin Aces were seen travelling at regular intervals. Despite a couple of cracks from PS Chouhan, Absolute Majority was finding it tough to keep pace with the leaders. The scene changed completely in the straight, as two of them skipped clear of the rest. Bottom-weighted Lads Ability led for a while before being challenged and passed by Satsh Narredu’s Wind Of Soul. Under the capable handling of Suraj, the filly grew stronger with each subsequent stride and went on to score an easy victory. While Lads Ability retained his second spot, it was Impressive Bolt who came from the tail end of the pack to beat Absolute Majority into fourth place. 

Suraj Narredu had a fairly satisfying afternoon, as he completed a treble by partnering another two well backed horses to victory. He started with the day’s opener astride Amit Caddy’s Afternoon Delight. This small made four year old filly was still a maiden, but the quality of her present opposition ensured that she started as the first choice of the punters. Suraj took a good jump from a wide draw and steered Afternoon Delight into an advantageous position behind Dominator and World Is Toomuch. The three of them headed the group till the final bend. Hereabouts, Suraj pulled out his stick and tapped Afternoon Delight. She bounded forward, overtook World Is Toomuch and managed to score her first career victory. A late bid by Blue Origin on the extreme wide outside enabled her to save place money for her numerous supporters. 

The most impressive amongst Suraj’s three victories was the one that he scored with a four year old trained by his father. Wind Tunnel had joined Satish Narredu’s yard in summer, and scored a point for his stable by winning amongst those rated in the lowest category. After winning his next start on promotion, Wind Tunnel was now attempting to defy the handicapper one more time, and was bidding to complete a hat-trick of victories. His main opponents in this mile handicap titled The Chettinad Stud Trophy, were Sandstorm, Meghalaya and Chiron. With Sandstorm, Savvy Concept, Chiron and Meghalaya going to the front, Wind Tunnel was settled at the back. Suraj was totally unconcerned with what was happening in front, and was content to bide his time till the bend. With the early leaders running out of gas, it was Euphoria and Chiron that led them into the straight. At just about the same juncture, Wind Tunnel made an appearance. Coming with a spirited run on the wide outside, he strode away in majestic fashion and won by a widening margin from Chiron, Euphoria and Kilimanjaro. In this sort of form, Wind Tunnel may continue his winning ways at Mysore. 

The Mysore Race Club Trophy, a class III handicap open to horses of all age groups, attracted a number of talented three year olds. The upper division had a very strong contender in trainer Dhariwal’s Kafka. This horse had clashed swords with Strombolite at Bangalore, and hadn’t disgraced himself by finishing a very good second on that day. Since he was running on promotion, Kafka was seen getting weight from most of his opponents. Yakeen, Mom In Law and Azure Fire set a strong pace and were at the helm of affairs for most of the way. Kafka and Whistlejacket were seen being niggled in the early stages of this race to keep in touch with those in front of them. Nearing the furlong marker, Yakeen showed great determination and skipped clear of the pack. Both PS Chouhan astride Kafka and Imran Khan on Whistlejacket tried their best to bridge the gap. Even though they managed to reduce the margin, they were unable to catch Yakeen. Madhu Babu rode a strong finish on this Bobby trained filly. 

The lower division had a strong favourite in Suleiman Attaollahi’s Cinch. The nice looking filly was attempting to defy a huge penalty that she had received for her maiden triumph achieved on the same track a few weeks ago. With Trevor in the saddle, Cinch was expected to post a very easy victory and was accordingly backed down to 70/100. However, it did not happen that way. Cinch was made to work really hard before winning near the final post. Jolie and Golden Slipper set a strong pace and were ahead of Cinch and Abbas Dreams till the two furlong marker. It was hereabouts that Trevor made his move. He produced Cinch on the wide outside and went in chase of Jolie. With the front-runner refusing to surrender, Trevor had a fight on his hands. Making free use of his whip, he managed to push Cinch to the front and to the relief of those who had backed her confidently, Cinch held Jolie at the finishing line. Abbas Dreams did well to retain third place ahead of a late rushing Sun Glow. 

This was Trevor’s second win for the day, as he had already partnered Warren Singh’s Manta Ray to a fluent win over Blackbird and Kingston Town. This seven furlong handicap for horses in class IV witnessed a lot of money flowing in the direction of the Dominic trained Love Is Life. This on-money favourite was meeting such an ordinary set of opponents, that a win for this mount of PS Chouhan looked imminent. However, what happened soon after the jump was a cause of great concern for those who had backed him. Love is Life was seen loafing at the back and was refusing to budge under Chouhan’s whipping. He followed the same pattern of running throughout this trip and ended in the ruck. It is possible that he is not enjoying the use of blinkers, and the trainer may do well to remove them in future. The early action in this race saw Blackbird making a bold bid to make every post a winning one. Blackbird just about failed in his mission, when he was collared in the final furlong by Manta Ray. The latter made up much ground from behind to retire as an easy winner of this race.  

Once PS Chouhan failed with a string of favourites and reported “sick”, his last two mounts were entrusted to Christopher. This young man made full use of this lucky opportunity and partnered both Guts And Glory and Rich Celebration to easy victories. Darius Byramji’s Guts And Glory was a fourth favourite behind Azetic Star, Seven Of Hearts and Galaxy Queen. A general opinion that the progeny of Glory Of Dancer don’t act favourably on soft ground was enough to see the odds against Guts And Glory rising with each passing moment. After a smart jump at the gates, Guts And Glory went to the front and set a good pace ahead of Azetic Star and Seven Of Hearts. The three of them tore away from Galaxy Queen and the others. With the leader refusing to stop, the race in the straight was only for the minor placings. Seven Of Hearts got up on the very last stride to nose-out Azetic Star from the runner-up berth. With this run, Guts And Glory showed a marked improvement over her summer form. 

Partnering JS Pillay’s Rich Celebration in the last race of the day, Christopher did well to save ground for most of the way. Realizing that the filly lacked early speed, he chose to bide his time at the back. Similarly, Rebecca and Nessie were also in mid group as a bunch of no-hopers brought the field into view. While Rebecca was forced to travel wide, Rich Celebration came though the middle. Arshad Alam tried his best to keep Rebecca going, but she had no answers to the final acceleration shown by the winner. Rich Celebration came with long strides to win with a measure of comfort.  Nessie rallied late to finish a close third.