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ADEMARO LIFTS REPUBLIC CUP WITH EASE

By Epsom Ace | 28 Jan 2014 | KOLKATA


Trainer Vijay Singh leading Ademaro (C Alford Up), winner of The Republic Cup

Trainer Vijay Singh’s Ademaro proved once again that he relishes the mile-and-quarter trip as he made every post of the Republic Cup a winning one in the hands of Christopher Alford. The colt by Ace out of Lady One spared eight lengths to the runner-up Aashiqui. If he enjoyed an armchair ride in the day’s feature, Alford showed just why he is the leading saddle artist at this centre when he guided Mr Gorgeous to a superb triumph over Totalisator favourite Triumphus (Dashrath Singh up) in the very next race. While Alford positioned the second favourite immediately after the jump-out to be a handy third along the rails behind the two front-runners, Dashrath took his time to settle his mount and then had no option but to take  the bend seven wide in a 12-horse field. That in itself killed all his chances as the duo were pretty closely matched. The wily Alford took the shortest route to the winning post as heads turned for home while Dashrath took the longest. The short local straight did not give the outstation jockey enough ground to make up the leeway. Other than the clever piece of horsemanship, it must be said that the winner’s performance was noteworthy and he may yet pick up another race before the season is over.

The afternoon started on a disastrous note for followers of money as trainer Richard Alford’s My Boy Lollipop pulled off one of the season’s biggest upsets. Having snatched the lead in the straight from Arisen Star, jockey Md Islam refused to give up the front berth and held on by the proverbial whisker from the fast finishing Secret Gloss. The favourite Crafty Lady ended up a poor third.

Drop The Pressure took his penalty in his stride as he made every post of the Anzello Handicap a winning one in the hands of PS Chouhan. He controlled the pace to a nicety and pulled away in the straight to win in a close contest from Skway who stuck to him like a leech all the way.

After his recent success in Bangalore atop the Derby winner Agostini, jockey Louis Beuzelin displayed a wonderful piece of saddle artistry to bag the Kings Academy Handicap while astride Seafarer. Beuzelin played a waiting game atop the Manvendra Singh ward to move with a burst of speed opposite the grandstand and leave the field standing. While the public choice This One’s For You was outclassed, the challenge to the ultimate winner came from unexpected quarters in the form of Silver Silver.

Trainer Vijay Singh has been enjoying quite a bit of success this season and it came as no surprise when he picked up the Avaglow Handicap with the filly Aviette. Installed as the firm favourite, the daughter of Unbridled Energy out of Alexander Charlotte thus completed back-to-back wins. Bharath Singh’s Winds Of The Ocean moved with a late run to be a good second.

The upper division of The Saddle Up Handicap saw trainer Shafiq Khan’s Hurricane Andrew pull off a marvellous victory in the hands of PS Chouhan. Allowing the Totalisator favourite Rewarding  to call the shots till the distance post, Chouhan and the ‘Huricane’ moved swiftly to take up the running thereafter. Stamp Act squeezed through along the rails to issue a tough challenge but the winning post came to the rescue of the winner.

The lower division of the same race saw Arti Doctor’s Flash make every post a winning one in the hands of Dashrath Singh. The speedy filly needed a couple of cracks to keep going in the straight as Romancer moved up menacingly but in the end she won quite comfortably.