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ALWAYS BULLISH SCORES AN ENCORE

By Mirror Image | 10 Nov 2013 | HYDERABAD


Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, Mr. Hari Kishen Gupta & trainer D.Netto leading Always Bullish (Suraj Narredu Up), winner of The P Veereshwar Rao Memorial Cup

D.Netto trained Always Bullish (Storm Trooper-Blue Sonata) justified the short price while scoring an encore in the P.Veereshwar Rao Memorial Cup, a six furlongs sprint for horses in category II, the main event of the card of seven races at Hyderabad on Sunday. Ridden by Suraj Narredu, Always Bullish was the only favourite to oblige on the day. The grey Lumiere Blanche set the pace followed closely by Arrogant Approach. Always Bullish moved to be third as they headed past the 600 metres board with Vijays Best racing fourth along the inner fence and Hard Kingdom travelling three off the fence. The rest followed them. As the race got to a boil towards the last 300 metres, Vijays Best slipped in towards the fence even as Always Bullish was reading to head past Lumiere Blanche. Jockey Suraj Narredu gave a couple of strong backhanders to Always Bullish and the 4 year old chestnut gelding responded in a trice to scuttle ahead to prevail by a length at the wire. Hard Kingdom and Lumiere Blanche finished third and fourth respectively.

Donald Netto was the only professional to score a double, having led in Audacious (Epicentre-Ice Castle), which had won last exactly a year ago, in the higher division of the Half-A-Crown Plate. Apprise and Jaden Gil disputed the lead from the start till entering the final straight. Indian Epic and Golden Palace tracked the leaders almost together with Audacious racing fifth and the others behind. As they moved into the last 400 metres, Audacious tried to make its bid on the outside but not finding a clear path, shifted right to rally in between horses along the inner ground and rushed to the front even as Jaden Gil came up strongly. Audacious spared three parts of a length, to Jaden Gil at the finish. Golden Palace and Apprise filled the frame.   

Ace Star (Hymn-Meryl) from M.V.Narayana Rao’s yard, which had found one better in its previous two runs during monsoon, pulled it off successfully in the lower division of the Half-A-Crown Plate. Price Warrior took advantage of the inner most draw and headed to lead the field. Star Prospect raced in second position, followed closely by Ace Star, Drayton, Garcia Marquez and the rest. Into the final straight Price Warrior was not showing signs of letting up and continued to hold the advantage. Ace Star began to get stronger under apprentice Abhishek S Pawar and closing the gap in the last 200 metres went past to win. Price Warrior held on to finish second while Garcia Marquez, Drayton and Jabel Queen joined to finish in that order in one frame. Citi Supreme was troublesome near the gates and was withdrawn before the race.

The opening race, the Recommender Plate, for maiden 2 year olds, ended up in an interesting finish with Ananth Vatsalya schooled Golden Terms (Roi Maudit-Millennium Queen), a long shot upsetting the applecart of the favourite Dear Friend on the last stride. Six juveniles, all of them first timers, lined up for the 1000 metres trip. Reflections led the field early and came into the home stretch with a lead of about two lengths from Dear Friend with Golden Terms getting stronger on the outside. With about 300 metres left from home, Dear Friend moved forward to take it up from the weakening Reflections. Golden Terms was ridden out strongly by Ajit Kumar and the gelding inched closer to Dear Friend and finally had its nose in front as they hit the wire. Reflections was third nearly three lengths away.

Anupam Sharma trained Mukhtar (Duja-Athlone) scored an easy win in the division I of the Godavari Cup. The speedy Bound For Glory and Mukhtar set out in front right from the start and disputed the lead till mid-way up the straight with Chayanandan rallying in third a little over two lengths behind. Ice Rain moved to run fourth on entering the straight. Inside the last furlong Mukhtar travelled the better under apprentice K.Mukesh Kumar and stepped up the pace to go clear. Ice Rain warmed up late but could only finish second. Chayanandan just managed to snatch the third place from a tiring Bound For Glory close to the winning post.   

The Best Man (Ontario-Bridgeofsighs) from the stables of K.Satheesh sprang a surprise in the lower division, beating the well backed favourite Crown Castle in the shadow of the winning post. Crown Castle showed plenty of early speed to hit the front with Ziv tracking him closely. The Best Man also ranged along on the outside with about 300 metres left and the three started to fight out. Ziv failed to pull out that extra despite jockey Suraj Narredu doing his best. The Best Man just about managed to get the better of the relentless Crown Castle by a ‘neck’ at the finish. Ziv finished third while Rohini Star filled the frame.

Zoheb Shaikh trained Chetak (Black Cash-Matinee) scored its maiden success in the lower division of the Democracy Plate. The 4 year old gelding was settled in second last position early, almost seven lengths behind the leader Silver Arnage and stayed there till approaching the final turn. Into the straight Itsy Bitsy surged forward to take charge. Chetak was guided towards the inside by A.Ashhad Asbar and galloping all the way along the shortest way, picked up the front runners one by one and surged past Itsy Bitsy inside the last 50 metres. The higher division of the race will be run on Monday.