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ARGIANO WAS THE “MONSOON MONARCH”

By Epsom Ace | 16 Oct 2013 | KOLKATA


Argiano winner of The Calcutta Monsoon Derby (Gr.2)

It was a Monsoon Meet to remember for several reasons, one of them being that for the first time in several decades, the Monsoon Derby had to be postponed due to heavy rain. This, despite the fact that the Calcutta monsoon track is one of the best in the country. The water drains pretty fast and the penetrometer reading rarely crosses two.

When the Derby was finally conducted three days later, the red-and-gold colours of Mr Deepak Khaitan were prominent, as they finished one-two to collect a total stake money of nearly Rs 60 lakh. Trainer Vijay Singh’s Argiano (Warrshan-Santarelle) quite easily accounted for the Derby field in the hands of upcoming star Shailesh Shinde. The latter thus completed a well-deserved treble on the day. Shinde rode a calculated race on this full brother to Unleashed (who was sadly put down after finishing fourth in the Stayers Cup on March 2).  He took over the running at the mile marker and led all the way to the winning post, in much the same way as he had done in the Colts Trial. The gelding kicked on merrily in the straight and held on well from stablemate Audrick, on whom jockey Christopher Alford did his best. This was only the third run of Audrick’s career and the son of Razeen out of Alvarita is certain to improve in the forthcoming winter season. The disappointment in the race was the ante-post favourite Captain Courageous who seemed poised for a rails run at the top of the straight but appeared to run out of gas. The stayer in the pack, Arabian Warrior, plodded on to occupy the third berth. The two final entries from western India (Knight Of Ke and Mufasa) were completely outclassed and finished way behind the rest.

Earlier in the season, Argiano came from Bangalore and picked up the Colts Trial Stakes in style. He got the better of Captain Courageous who may be better recalled to memory for his rider’s poor horsemanship. There was quite a bit of drama as jockey F Da Silva’s inexperience of the local monsoon track and Calcutta’s treacherous hairpin was palpably exposed. Multimagic it was who set a scorching pace in The Colts Trial Stakes, while Shailesh Shinde positioned Argiano handily just behind the front-runner. Initially Captain Courageous (F Da Silva up) was in a box seat but a brief moment of indecision at the top of the straight followed by a bout of some inexplicable use of the whalebone took away any chance he had of winning. Totally new to the monsoon track and the short local straight, Da Silva initially thought he could forge a passage between the front-running pair but then changed his mind and decided to take his mount on the outside. Unfortunately, with a couple of cracks, the colt veered out badly to the outer rails, whereby Da Silva switched his whip hand with disastrous effects. The colt responded to his master’s call but ducked in viciously, which could have resulted in a nasty ending. But thankfully that was not to be. Meanwhile, Shinde and Argiano were utterly focussed on the business at hand and hoisted the winning flag for the leading red-and-gold stable of Vijay Singh.

Pesi Shroff-trained Mariinsky (Burden Of Proof-Sabre Dance) proved too good for the local fillies as she displayed spectacular acceleration in the straight to sail past Escape To Victory and pocket the Calcutta Fillies Trial Stakes in style. It was yet another success from the stud farm known as Kunigal. Local challenger Adabella (C.Alford up) opted for the rails but failed to accelerate at a crucial juncture while Trevor Patel did just enough to bring home the bacon. Shaktiroop was quite obviously short of a preparatory run. She won her next outing against the formidable Snowdrift.

The season was memorable too for champion schooler Vijay Singh who had missed out on the title last couple of seasons. Though some of his wards took their time to come into their own, they proved themselves to be a cut above the rest in the second half of the season, The trainer was well clear of his nearest rival as was jockey Christopher Alford who lost the crown last winter to Shailesh Shinde. The latter however has been riding well for most part, though he did blot his copybook the day he rode Self Directed rather recklessly and had to subsequently answer to the Stewards. Unfortunately, he will not be seen on the first two days of the winter meet as he has been suspended for excessive use of the whip atop Carnival Point.

The season was also successful for several other professionals such as Manvendra Singh, Javed Khan, Arti Doctor and Daniel David. The last named was suspended for a month, other than which he would have surely picked up several more winners. In that respect, both Robert Gowli and Errol Bhungard were a trifle fortunate as they were in charge of several runners from the Bharath Singh and David stables respectively. This no doubt boosted their scores. It may be mentioned here that both schoolers were however responsible for several long-shots occupying the winner’s enclosure. While Errol led in Apical Finala twice, Gowli had several winners at higher odds such as Eternal Instinct and Accoast.

Manvendra too needs a special mention as several of his runners like Chalaque and Signor Sassi showed phenomenal improvement during the season. Tasveer (from suspended trainer Jasbir’s yard) was yet another runner who rose to great heights.

Among the runners which let their followers down was the once mighty Snowscape. After his pathetic monsoon showing, it remains a mystery how the grey could have ever won the Calcutta winter Derby. Perhaps the winter track will bring about a change of fortunes for this once game galloper. Another runner from the highest category whose winter showing will be keenly followed by punters is Silverina. In contrast, the grey Malpensa put up a fine show by picking up two races including one of the plums of the season – The Monsoon Cup.