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POTOMAC MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW

By Pearcey | 19 Oct 2013 | MYSORE


Mr S N Prasad & trainer Hidayat Khan leading Potomac (Saddam Hussain Up), winner of The Sardar K.B.Ramachandraraj Urs Memorial Trophy

The much awaited Derby Weekend at Mysore commenced on Saturday with a well filled card of nine events framed for the afternoon. With a number of trophies on offer, the day’s feature happened to be The Sardar KB Ramachandraraj Urs Memorial Trophy. This mile and a quarter handicap for horses in class II attracted only seven runners. The three that caught one’s attention were Applejack, Auburn Beauty and Madame Bovary. The last named had won a maidens race in late summer and was targeted next at The Mysore 1000 Guineas. She ran brilliantly to finish close behind Isn’t She Special, Striking and Keukenhof in that race. By finishing amidst such highly rated fillies, Madame Bovary forced the handicapper to raise her rating from 42 to a whopping 72. This somehow lessened her chances in today’s feature. Auburn Beauty had run some fair races in summer, but her present back-breaking weight looked like a stopper. The best placed amongst the present lot was Arjun Mangalorkar’s Applejack. This horse had won over today’s trip at Bangalore. In his only start over nine furlongs on the local track, he had been “nosed out” by Radical Attraction. It was quite apparent that, but for severe traffic problems that day, Applejack could have won the said race. He was supported strongly today, and installed as an odds-on choice of the punters as the runners entered the starting gates.

Bottom-weighted Potomac made use of his innermost draw and surged ahead of the others. He hugged the rails and showed the way to Applejack, Lad Lady and Auburn Beauty. The other three, led by Madame Bovary, were in close attendance as the seven of them tackled the first half of their journey. It was hereabouts that it turned out to be a two horse race. Potomac and Applejack pulled away from the rest, and were a fair distance ahead of them at the bend. Just about a length and a half separated them from each other. While Saddam Hussain had Potomac  racing well within himself, Applejack received a couple of cracks from PS Chouhan. Even though the favourite improved marginally, he was unable to collar the leader. Just as they neared the distance post, Potomac moved outwards under pressure. Chouhan corrected the path of Applejack and ducked towards the inner rails. With both riders pushing relentlessly, Potomac and Applejack raced towards the finishing line. The judge confirmed that Potomac had lasted out to win by half a length from Applejack. PS Chouhan raised the expected objection against Saddam Hussain, but a close look at the TV Replays confirmed that it lacked merit. Even though Potomac had changed course, he had not hampered the passage of Applejack. The Stewards took little time in over-ruling the same. For trainer Hidayat Khan, the performance of his ward Potomac was heart-warming. After failing repeatedly in his efforts to win the first race of his career, Potomac was relegated to the lowest category. He won a 0-25 event in late summer, and came to Mysore. By winning back-to-back events at this centre, Potomac had succeeded in making it three in a row.

‘The only professional double on Saturday was scored by jockey Suraj Narredu. He won on two out his three rides during the afternoon and justified the confidence reposed in him by the betting public. Both Aumento and Somethingdifferent started as firm favourites in their respective events.  Aumento was assigned the top weight in The Gool And Soli Poonawalla Memorial Trophy. This mile handicap for horses in class III had a number of last-outing winners. Aumento, Guts And Glory, Cinch and Speartooth had progressed to their  present marks with victories earlier in the season.  While Aumento had won over a mile, the others had all scored over shorter distances and were set to tackle the present trip for the first time in their careers. PS Chouhan took Guts And Glory to the front and set a strong pace till the bend. She was joined by Aumento in the middle and Cinch on the wide outside, as they turned for home. With Aumento and Cinch getting stronger than her, Guts And Glory was seemingly tired at that stage. She shortened her strides towards the inner rails and settled for the third spot. Aumento had little problem in keeping Cinch at bay. He beat the filly fairly comfortably and confirmed that he will be a stout opponent over long distance races during the Bangalore Winter Season. For a three year old filly, who had started her racing career only a couple of months ago, Cinch displayed her class with a neat performance.

Suraj’s other winner came astride the Amit Caddy trained Somethingdifferent. This bandaged four year old filly had flopped as a strong favourite earlier in the season. She was opposed by last outing winners Haute Ecole, Right On Time and Boudicca. The fact that all three of them were saddled with winning penalties, made Somethingdifferent’s job much easier today. The even money favourite obliged her backers with a fairly comfortable victory. The speedy Boudicca tried runaway tactics and led into the final furlong. Since Golden Slipper had joined the leader in front, Suraj chose to race with the favourite in third place. With those in front getting tired, all Suraj had to do was to show her “daylight”. Somethingdifferent galloped resolutely thereafter and powered away from a helpless Boudicca and a late finishing Right On Time. Having ridden flawlessly all season, Suraj is all set to pick up yet another Champion Jockey Title at Mysore.

The second division of the above mentioned trophy was the opening event in the day’s card. Lokanath’s Alpine Shine had served notice of an impending victory by figuring on the board in both starts this season. The five year old mare was entrusted to B Sreekanth today. This positive switch in the saddle was enough reason for the punters to back her with confidence. The leading jockey gave her a nice ride and succeeded in scoring a point for the stable. Allowing Perfect Speed to lead them into the straight, Sreekanth produced Alpine Shine with a sparkling run on the wide outside. She surged ahead from her fourth spot, overtook Star of Desire and Take Off on the way, and was soon alongside the leader. It was obvious that it was only a matter of time before she would assert her superiority. Alpine Shine finally won by a length and a quarter from Perfect Speed. Simra came from a long way back to relegate Take off into fourth place. Star of Desire got caught on the inside, scraped the false rails a  number of times and faded out of contention.

The last terms event for maiden three year olds this season was run over 1200 metres. The Hyderabad Race Club Trophy was contested by a dozen horses. Dhariwal’s Vision Mission and Satish Narredu’s Amazonas were the frontline contenders for the first prize. While the former had raced under the name of Man Of Vision in the past and figured on the board on a few occasions, Amazonas had equally good form . The early action in this race was confined to the two market fancies, but in the straight it became a one horse race. Vision Mission led from the word “go” and proved to be too strong for his opponents. With PS Chouhan waving his whip at him, the bay got stronger with each subsequent stride and won comfortably from a totally unfancied Flash Time and a tired Amazonas. Seven Of Hearts raced prominently till the final furlong before disappearing from the scene. Now that Vision Mission has graduated from the maiden ranks, it will be fair to assume that this nice looking horse could improve in the winter season. Flash Time will be too good to miss against Mysore based horses.

The Vasoo Group Trophy was annexed by the shortest priced favourite of the afternoon. This was a class IV handicap reserved for Mysore based horses. Bipin Salvi’s Absolute Pleasure had the perfect credentials to lift this trophy. The three year old had run amongst youngsters only thrice in her career. After making a winning debut, she had run once again at Mysore and thereafter at Bangalore. On both occasions, she had shown a lot of class by ending close behind the winners. She was lucky to have been retained in class IV by the handicapper. Since the filly was running after a longish gap of almost eight months, Bipin did not want to take chances by entrusting her to an ordinary rider. He utilized the services of John astride his charge. Absolute Pleasure tracked Beautiful Fin for a while before assuming command of the situation. Once she went ahead of her eleven rivals, there was little doubt about the final outcome of this race. She cantered past the winning post and scored ahead of Winning Desire, Beautiful Fin and Archer. We are sure to hear a lot about this filly in the coming months as she is certain to climb the charts.

The two divisions of The Setia Teknologi Trophy witnessed extremely close finishes. This handicap event, for horses four years old and over in class III, had attracted a large number of acceptors. The top division had two runners equally fancied by their respective connections. With money pouring onto them, Puttanna’s last outing winner Open Page and Neil Darashah’s Miss Ching started as joint favourites in this race. With Mom In Law, Distant Promise and Astounding Gallop setting a fast pace in this race, the two fancied horses were seen being urged by their riders. Open Page responded gamely by skirting the leading group and looming large on the wide outside. On the other hand, Miss Ching wilted under pressure and faded from the scene. Apprentice Mudassar continued to push Open Page, and the four year old led into the final furlong. Even though Distant Promise continued to fight towards the inner rails, and Igah Igah Igah as well as Magnomical gained ground on the very wide outside, it was Open Page who retained his grip on this race. It was a dream finish for the handicapper, as the four of them ended within half a length of each other.

The day ended with the lower version of this event. Instead of two big guns , as in the above mentioned race, we had three of them in this one. Simpleton, Talita’s Girl and Amazon Bay were backed to the exclusion of their rivals. Imran Chisty urged Amazon Bay out of the gates and enjoyed an early advantage over Talita’s Girl and Simpleton. Hugging the inner rails, the leader went further ahead in the straight and seemed to have things under control. However, a late surge by Simpleton allowed him to come very close to Amazon Bay. Eventually, it was some hard riding from Imran that allowed the Nityanand trained Amazon Bay to score in a close finish from Simpleton. Talita’s Girl faded from the scene and ended many lengths behind the winner. Red Admiral showed good resolve to move into the third berth, thereby saving place money for his backers.