Indiarace.com - india's first & foremost horse racing portal

DR MAM’S GOLDIE BROWN SILKS DOMINATE DERBY EVE

By Mahendra Mallya | 01 Feb 2014 | MUMBAI


Trainer C Rajendra leading Shaughnessy (C S Jodha Up), winner of The Mcdowell Signature Premier Trophy Div-2

The famous colours of Dr MAM Ramaswamy dominated Saturday’s races at the Mahalaxmi with the turf baron striking with four winners in the day, his Be Safe bagging the Kunigal Stud Breeders’ Produce Stakes (Gr3), the day’s feature event.

His first winner came through in a thrilling finish to snatch the Div I of the McDowell Signature Premier Trophy. Patriotic (Royal gladiator – Ashkirk) was not in the picture at the turn and even as they straightened up, Patriotic arrived late on the scene.

It was Nirbhaya who closed in on long time leader Supertramp. This pair was well ahead of Stiletto who was not finding anything. Soon Divine Solitaire started to cover ground and Patriotic too was quickening well. These two posed a dual challenge to Nirbhaya and the last start winner fought bravely before succumbing to both challengers. Divine Solitaire and Patriotic fought out every inch of the final furlong. Jockey B Sreekanth had the final say when he rode out Patriotic with aplomb to carve out a narrow win at the wire.

Splendid Light (Arabian Gulf – Gleaming Sky) timed her run to perfection and breezed in late to shock favourite Penny Lane on the post. Settling down to race in the rear bunch, Splendid Light had to stage her finish from the wide outside.

Zoltan had taken charge coming into the straight and in the first half of the stretch, he shaped well. Just when it looked that he might just scrape through, Penny Lane moved forward at a good clip and gained on him. In the next second, Splendid Light was seen devouring ground at a brisk pace. The Other Song also made a desperate bid and in the final few meters, Splendid Light flashed past them all to spare a neck to Penny Lane. The Other Song edged out Zoltan for the third spot.

Great Expectation (Always A Rainbow – Beautiful Crown) won a hard race battling with Artiste for supremacy. Double O Seven led from the start until well into the straight. Shivalik Skies faltered at the gates and took no active part in the race.

Double O Seven was soon accounted for by Artiste with Great Expectation looming large on the outside. Artiste galloped on even as Great Expectation started to come alongside and started to apply pressure. The pair tussled all the way with Shivalik Breeze also trying to catch up with these two. Ashrafie who moved out from the rails and went far wide lost his chances in doing so. In the end, it was jockey CD Hayes who got out that extra bit to win narrowly from Artiste and Shivalik Breeze. Ashrafie and a good fourth.

Amelia (Multidimensional – Adamile) proved her class and extracted her revenge to her loss to Dancing Prances when they last met a year ago. Yuville led them into the straight and faded away. Soon Dancing Prances came thundering in to take charge. Silver Streak made his bid through the inner rails and Amelia was still waiting to find a gap between horses as she was stuck on the rails even with only 300 to go. Dancing Prances went into the final furlong with a handy lead that looked enough to see him through, as Silver Streak, the one closest to him didn’t seem to make any impression on the leader. This was when Amelia found her way out and in split seconds quickened impressively to collar Dancing Prances and storm ahead with a fiery gallop. Amelia, ridden by Zervan bounded forward leaving the speedy Dancing Prances shell-shocked. This was indeed a dominating victory and Amelia looked far too superior. In this form, Amelia is set for an encore. Neath ran on to end in the money ahead of Silver Streak.

Jockey turned trainer C Rajendra tasted first blood as trainer with Shaughnessy (Glory of Dancer – Struie) bring him this memorable victory in the first race of the day.

Shaughnessy was not in the most prominent position in the early stages, but made considerable ground to be in the bunch at the turn. Medanito led them in and gave up soon after. Earth Tamer and Tempest then battled on for a while favourite Pamushana simply not quickening when needed. She finished too far behind without troubling the front runners.

Earth Tamer kicked on desperately with Tempest on his heels when Shaughnessy started to accelerate well. Jockey CS Jodha atop Shaughnessy was vigorous in his riding and he soon managed to collar the fighting duo and assert a memorable win for the trainer. Earth Tamer ran a decent second, while Glorious Opinion came with a fast finish to snatch the place stakes from Tempest.

Analeah disappointed yet again and her performance was far from her impressive debut in Pune. She looked on course when she got past early leader Ice Zone soon on turning for home. Analeah had barely got past Ice Zone when Brynhill came over and zipped past. Sheer Romance also was picking up but not fast enough to go for it all the way. It was Zoom Zoom who did that! Jockey Sandesh got an electric response from Zoom Zoom (Diffident – Raptures) in the final furlong and sailed past Sheer Romance, Analeah and Brynhill to post a convincing win.

Albuurz (Diffident – Knowle Park) thwarted a serious challenge to beat Blind Date in a close finish. Both were in the front right from the start and began their fight early in the straight. At one point Blind Date had the upper hand but Albuurz fought back stubbornly to wrest the lead back and win by a neck. Tachyon ran on from down the field to finish a noteworthy third. San Rafael and Nicanor too displayed good finishing efforts.

Song of Africa (Sussex – Arabian Shuffle) scored her second victory of the season after faltering over six-furlongs in her last outing. Back to five, she was in fourth as El Wonder was working to stay in the lead and Plan B snapping at him. Last out winner Bethlehem could not spring to life again and wilted early. Song of Africa saw his opportunity and swooped upon El Wonder who was slowing down. Song of Africa sailed past the leader and had to contend with a strong challenge posted by Windsor Queen. She managed to keep Windsor Queen at bay and etched out a narrow win. Pepe Junior arrived a shade too late but was finishing on gamely. Wind and Stars and Negredo too were improving fast at the finish.

The last race of the day was a fitting finale with Relic Hunter and Moon Shadow engaged in the closest finish of the day. Relic Hunter who was chasing Rajsamman all the way into the straight, soon took over and stole a march over the rest. He was well ahead coming past the distance post. Moon Shadow then started to eat up ground at a good clip. A few places behind Fortune Hunter too started to improve. Relic Hunter, meanwhile was giving it all even as Moon Shadow got alongside him. They went stride for stride in the last 100 meters and the photo verdict went in favor of Relic Hunter. Moon Shadow was unlucky to have lost it on such a close call. Fortune Hunter was way too late but did make a good impression.  

For the professionals, trainer Karthik G saddled a fine treble, while jockeys B Sreekanth & Kavraj Singh scored a double each.