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STORM TRACKER BATTLES TO WIN JHUNJHUNWALA MILLION

By Mahendra Mallya | 22 Dec 2013 | MUMBAI


Mr. Zeyn Mirza & trainer P Shroff leading Storm Tracker (Trevor Patel Up), winner of The Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala Million

The Deltin Casinos 2000 Guineas day saw majority of the first favourites oblige and where they didn’t the second fancies scored victories. Perhaps Glorious Reward was the exception, but for those who glanced through Indiarace selections for the day, the Imtiaz trainee was tipped as the first choice. Hence, one can’t term Glorious Reward a rank outsider altogether.

Storm Tracker (Weather Warning – Wolonstonita), the prime fancy for the Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala Million, earned a hard fought victory when he stuck it out all the way warding off a stiff challenge from Rajasthan Royals. Their battle reminded one of the classic dead-heat the two were involved in at Pune. This time though, the roles were reversed and it was Rajasthan Royals who came from behind and Storm Tracker working hard to keep his lead.

They raced in a tightly packed bunch with about six lengths covering the field that had Star Trainer and Winston matching strides for the slender lead. Hachiko was close behind with Storm Tracker, Neona and Rajasthan Royals striding on his tail. Amadeus and Scarlet Pimpernel will right on their heels.

Winston got the measure of Star Trainer soon on straightening up and moved ahead. Jockey P Trevor got Storm Tracker to quicken and the Shroff ward responded instantly to wear down Winston approaching the distance post. Trevor was pushing hard once he had taken charge as he sensed that a challenger was lurking close behind. Rightly so Amadeus and Rajasthan Royals were gaining on the top weight (60Kgs) and Trevor went hard at it, his mind focused on the fast approaching winning post.

Rajasthan Royals worked up a lively pace and was gaining ground at a brisk rate. Trevor never let his guard down and Storm Tracker too put in a determined effort to see Rajasthan Royals through, this time not wanting to share the spoils, succeeding in the winner-takes- all mode.

Rajasthan Royals was a gallant second and the seven-year-old veteran certainly gave a run for his money to the favourite. Amadeus is in good shape and over a sprint would be hard to crack. Hachiko could have done better. He was in box seat turning for home, but failed to cash in from that good position.

The Dr MAM Ramaswamy camp had more to celebrate other than Murioi’s big success as two others donning the famous ‘Goldie-Brown’ silks bought home trophies for their master. Trainer Karthik delighted his father S Ganapathy as also Dr MAM with a good-priced double. The Ministerian (Ace – Glorious Fantasy) flattened the opposition gobbling up his rivals in what panned out to be a one horse race and bagged the Nawabzada Rashiduzzafar Khan Trophy run over a mile and quarter.

 Mountain Force cut the wind at a crisp pace and led all the way until the turn. The Ministerian improved from an initial fourth to be on the haunches of the leader at the turn, getting past honest Pleasure and Antonius Maximus in the process. Once into the straight, The Ministerian was resolute and didn’t take too long to amass a massive lead. He was all by himself coming into the final furlong and won drawing away. Honest Pleasure did well to stick on to the runner-up berth and he was rewarded for his good effort right through the race.

Indian Touch (Kheleyf – Indian’s Feather) caused another dent to Analeah’s reputation. This was the third consecutive time that Analeah has gone down as an on-money favourite. All seemed on course for the favourite as she tracked the leader ice Zone into the straight. With Indian Touch too far back at the turn, it appeared that Analeah was heading for an expected victory. She surged past ice Zone and had also built a handy lead. However, she was not accelerating well enough to carry on her good work. Indian Touch started to warm up inside the final three hundred and the anxiety level started to rise for the followers of the favourite. Their worst fears came true when jockey Franco Dasilva stormed past Analeah in the final 100 meters. Amara rubbed more salt in the wounds by snatching the runner up slot as well from Analeah.

 Indian Touch was the one to finish the strongest and his effort won the Kejriwal Trophy for Dr MAM. Oriental Rocky and IL Moran ended closing- in with the top finishers and Oriental Rocky in particular is the one to note.

The Dr Mallya-Shroff-Trevor combine also carved out a double during the day. A race prior to the Jhunjhunwala Million they won the Allah Rakhkha Trophy with their two-year-old colt Solomon (Rebuttal – Dhahab). This race was touted as a two-horse race with Quasar as the main threat to the Mallya favourite.

Solomon was out quickly and settled in second position behind leader Heart of the City. He travelled well all the way. Personify was next with Quasar in fourth. Solomon stepped on it soon on turning for home and cruised into the lead past Heart of the City. Personify and Quasar were in chase. However, Solomon increased the tempo and was soon out of bounds for his rivals. Quasar ended chasing the winner, but did enough to promise a better show after this run. Veni Vidi Vici improved well towards the finish and managed to pip Personify for the place money.

Hawaiian Princess (Ontario – Hawafiz) produced an electric turn of foot at the business end to romp home in style although the verdict was just over a length. She was at the rear end of the small field until the turn. Saints N Sinners got past national Glory soon on turning for home with favourite Anahi and Emerging Star hot on his heels. While Emerging Star didn’t show much spark, Anahi was just beginning to close-in on the leader. At that very juncture Hawaiian Princess, ridden brilliantly by Sandesh arrived with a scorching run to shock Anahi and draw away in the final fifty. Hawaiian Princess clocked her personal best timing of 58:88 for the scurry.

Glorious Reward (Mull of Kintyre – Glorious Breaker) was the longest priced winner of the day and Dashrath Singh timed his run to a nicety. Glorious was languishing at the rear of the mid-bunch as they turned for home. Rubens had taken charge and was firmly in command as they turned the corner. Mufasa and Jens Glory who were closest to Rubens were making little impression on the winner. Glorious Reward started to devour ground and he had at least five lengths to make over Rubens with about 300 to go. Glorious Reward galloped majestically and was speeding towards Rubens. Providence, who was further behind Glorious Reward at the turn, was also coming into the picture. But she had too much to do and didn’t have the ground to make it. Not so for Glorious Reward. He arrived with awesome speed to peg back Rubens and score an impressive victory.

Blue Swallow (Imtiyaz – Innara) added to his maiden victory which he notched a couple of weeks back winning the Beautiful Stranger Trophy in style. He followed favourite Scalanaya all the way into the turn with Tara and Zafirah in tow. Once into the straight, Blue Swallow, trained and owned by Asad Siddiqui went past Scalanaya with ease. Tara then tried to challenge the new leader and got to within a length of Blue Swallow. However, Neeraj Rawal astride Blue Swallow got her going and the grey mare galloped on gamely to romp home by two lengths.

The last two races were the two divisions of the Cole Gold Cup. You’re The Boss (Papal Bull – Heather Heath) won the 1st division, end to end, beating favourite Reckless convincingly. He entered the straight leading the big field in and marched on ahead leaving the rest to chase him down. Burgundy Rose to challenge the leader and was galloping well. Reckless improved from the fourth spot to line her challenge. However, she failed to quicken and You’re the Boss was not letting up. Even Burgundy Rose found it hard to topple the leader. Jockey Dashrath Singh once again rode with aplomb to see the Narendra Lagad trained three-year-old deal the knockout punch.  

The lower division of the Cole Gold Trophy was won in similar fashion as the upper division by Vanguard (Shirocco – You Are The One). Vanguard entered the straight with a slender lead but he was travelling well. Sandesh surged ahead with 400 to go and had to keep Vanguard going as there was the danger of any among the many that were close behind him cropping up to surprise. However, Vanguard galloped on strongly and kept a safe distance away from his rivals. Shining Path was the pick of the beaten brigade as he flew in covering a lot of ground to end piping Basic Life for the runner-up slot.

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff and Karthik G saddled a double each. Jockeys A Sandesh, Dashrath Singh, P Trevor and Franco Dasilva all scored a double each.