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

ANDREUS LIFTS DELHI RACE CLUB CUP

By Epsom Ace | 07 Mar 2014 | KOLKATA


Mr Subir Dasgupta & trainer Vijay Singh leading Andreus (Shailesh Shinde Up), winner of The Delhi Race Club Cup

Three firm favourites obliged punters in a card of seven races at the Calcutta racecourse on Friday. Among them was Vijay Singh-trained Andreus who reproduced his last forward run to leave his rivals standing. While Batista was withdrawn on veterinary grounds, Royal Honour ran on to be a far away runner-up. Jockey Shailesh Shinde, who rode the winner, had another mount of potential in the last race of the day, but muffed his chances with an over-eager ride.

In his eagerness to position his mount Anassa, Shinde ran into Torch Of Life and dropped back rapidly. Thus the Comedy of Errors Handicap lived up to its name as the horse which ‘fly-jumped’ last time out (Double Do), won handsomely on  this occasion. In-and-out racing (intentionally or otherwise) has always been a thorn in the side of local turfites and the last race was no exception.

Much fancied Paras Mani faded out after an early show of speed while Bharath Singh-trained  Double Do, with MF Ali Khan astride, moved up with a fluent run on the outside to sail past the front-runners. Wild Card was a worthy runner-up.

Visiting jockey Sandesh recorded a brace with Winds Of The Ocean and War Games. The former, from Bharath Singh’s yard, was handled judiciously by the talented rider to land the spoils in the mile-and-quarter race for The Star Magic Handicap. Lying second last while Highly Explosive showed the early way, Sandesh urged his mount to raise a gallop in the straight and the five-year-old obliged to sail past Self Directed who tried to steal a march at the top of the home stretch after collaring the front-runner. In this race, Tasveer was slow into stride and graced the wrong end of the field, never quite recovering.

Sandesh rode a power-packed finish astride the on-money public choice War Games to get the better of Assassin in the very last stride by the proverbial whisker.  The race for the Daring Don Handicap saw the second favourite Sorrento shoot into the lead but the top-weight had to retire from the fray early after bursting his blood vessels. Kavraj Singh atop Assassin made his move in the straight and looked to have the race in the bag till Sandesh decided otherwise. He switched his mount out from the rails and changed his whip-hand to pull off the afternoon’s most spectacular triumph astride the Javed Khan ward.

Torrero was the second of Bharath Singh’s three winners. Shezad Khan astride the unfancied colt by Brave Act out of Rhapsody In Blue got the better of fancied runners, Solitary Eagle, Arion and Krishna in the race for The Star Flame Handicap. While Solitary Eagle was always up with the front-runners, the other two fancied runners did not give their backers a run for their money. Despite an outside draw, Lancer’s Dream moved up well to finish a good third.

The first unfancied runner to put his best foot forward during the day was Christopher Gleich-trained Jassi’s Star, who defied the 6kg penalty to record an encore by the narrowest of margins. In fact, the challenge to the top-weight came from rather unexpected quarters in the form of Rise Above. The much-touted pair of Silver Wizard and Set Sail were the two biggest disappointments of the afternoon. While the latter is known to be unsound and burst his blood vessels, the ‘Wizard’ obviously lacks a silver lining despite her impressive bloodline and may try her luck in the lowest class next time out.

Shafiq Khan-trained Significant lifted the Arterial Cup in a close finish from Shivalik Shakti to open apprentice Waheed’s account at this centre. Once again, the fancied pair of Crafty Lady and Badly Behaved were poor performers. The last named was in fact an on-money public choice but not even Sandesh’s best efforts could get him to raise a gallop.