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STAR TRAINER WINS NOSHIR & DOLLY DHUNJIBHOY MILLION

By Mahendra Mallya | 13 Oct 2013 | PUNE


Trainer H J Antia leading Star Trainer (A Sandesh Up), winner of The Noshir & Dolly Dhunjibhoy Sprint Million

Star Trainer (Storm Trooper – Tiddly Widdly) from Antia’s yard displayed top speed to beat a good bunch of high class sprinters win the supporting event for the Nanoli Derby. They set off at a blistering pace with bottom weight Yuville darting to the lead. Star Trainer, Ishpingo and Déjà vu were close behind with Amadeus and Weizhou following them. Nefyn lost a bit of ground moving in sharply from the outermost draw while looking for a rail run and Rajasthan Royals surprisingly chose to run at the tail end of the field.

Yuville led them in and was kicking on showing no sign of giving up. Star Trainer moved up to the second spot while Amadeus tried to slip in through the inner rails. Nefyn could not get going as we have seen him do in the past and never made an impact. Ishpingo too did not fire and fell back as did Déjà vu.

Past the distance post, Star Trainer warmed up and arrived with a flourish to speed away from the rest, literally tearing away from them. Amadeus ran into major traffic problems and had to be checked at a crucial juncture due to Neeraj Rawal causing him interference. An objection by Imran Chisty later was upheld and Amadeus was promoted to the second spot and Yuville pushed back to third by the stewards. Star Trainer with Sandesh astride, eventually won comfortably to land the rich spoils.

Cooji Katrak trained Way Out (Exceed And Excel – Farrfesheena) provided an encore accounting for on money favourite Analeah to win the Keenland Juvenile Fillies’ Million with awesome ease. She did everything right and shot into the lead soon on start and worked up a fiery pace. Analeah and Dyna jostled on the jump and both could have hoped for a better start.

Way Out sprinted with a lot of energy and came into the straight with a handy lead. Angel in the Sky followed her into the straight with Analeah desperately trying to make good lost ground. Had Way Out weakened even a bit, Analeah would have pounced on the opportunity. However, that was not to be as jockey kamlesh ensured that Way Out did not slacken a bit and kept her good gallop going all the way home. Angel in the Sky ended third ahead of Dyna, while both the ‘seniors’ in terms of experience were pushed out of the judge’s frame.

The Katrak-Kamlesh combine were again successful with Hawaiian Princess (Ontario – Hawafiz) in the first race – the FA & KA Irani Trophy. Pitbull and Catharsis were thrashing it out in front when Hawaiian Princess came up smoothly to join the issue. It didn’t take Kamlesh long to zip past the fighting duo and notch up the filly’s first victory in Pune.  Dictator warmed up late and made a terrific dash towards the winning post. He did well to peg back both Catharsis and Pitbull and landed on the haunches of the winner. Mighty King ran on to deny Pitbull a place in the frame.

First And Only One had a forgettable debut as she just didn’t raise a gallop and went down tamely. It was Adams Spirit all the way right from the start. The Adhiraj trainee showed lot of juice getting out of the gates and maintained a steady clip throughout the race. As they turned for home, Adams Spirit quickened even further and built a handy lead. Fabulous Florence tried hard to pose a challenge, but Kavraj Singh had Adams Spirit accelerating well right past the winning post. Fabulous Florence ended up second just ahead of Superlicious and Feast of Love. First And Only One ended one off the frame and would need more time.

 Sheer Class (Shamardal – Ripple of Pride) lived up to her name and made ample amends for her loss on debut in Mumbai. This time she was all class as she completely dominated her rivals over the seven-furlong race. She went about her task with admirable ease as she effortless galloped into the early lead and held fort all through the race. Cyclops was in chase with Presidential in third as they turned for home. While the rest were clearly off the bridle, Sheer Class was travelling beautifully on the bit well into the straight. The final two furlongs was reduced to a mere formality as Cyclops and Presidential were clearly way below par to raise any worthy challenge. Sheer Class with P Trevor in command, sailed clear for them all to romp home in style. Cyclops did well to end second ahead of Presidential. Ghanghorr improved to take the fourth.

Holy Bull (Papal Bull – Praise of Folly) was bullish right from the start and heaped a heavy margin victory on his rivals. He called the shots making every post a winning one. He always had a decisive upper hand and led them into straight still on the bit. Savage Garden and the rest were panting hard and Holy Bull continued his domination all through the straight. He piled on an impressive lead and had a lot in the tank while finishing easing up, inflicting an impressive seven-length defeat upon Sword of Honour and Savage Garden. Razeena never prominent and ended a tame fourth.

Rio (Multidimensional – Olivia Valere) galloped to his third victory on the trot and was even more impressive this time. Rio with apprentice Mosin astride made a clean and quick break from the gates and led them all into the straight. Emperor of France was up next but could not quicken to pose any challenge. Capri progressed through the rails and even got closer to the leader past the distance post. Rio however, did not appear into any threat as he had a good gallop going and easily succeeded in compiling a commendable hat-trick. Capri ended second while Dreams R Mine came from behind to pip Emperor of France for place money.

Invincible (Mr Mellon – Strike It Right) won the concluding event of the day, smothering a late challenge from Ice Affair.  Celsius led from the start with Invincible tagging alongside. Mahiki too was right behind and Ice Affair was way down the field in the second last position.

Celsius was trying hard to keep the momentum going, but Invincible was gaining on him with every stride. National Pride came on to the scene in the final furlong and looked menacing at that stage. Invincible with Vaibhav in the saddle kept the ante up and was warding off National Pride when Ice Affair began to strike a serious challenge. Ice Affair could feel the post arrived a stride too early as he managed to get all but the winner, falling short by half a length at the wire. National Pride ran a gritty race to earn place money. It would pay to follow Ice Affair, he was too far back and covered maximum ground in the final stages.

For the professionals, trainers Pesi Shroff, CD Katrak and Adhiraj Jodha saddled a brace each. Kamlesh was the lone jockey to do so.