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

JACK FROST WINS SAHACHARI FOUNDATION CUP

By Mahendra Mallya | 13 Mar 2014 | MUMBAI


Mr Peter Deubet & trainer Vinesh leading Jack Frost (Trevor Patel Up), winner of The Sahachari Foundation Cup

Sunday’s races saw a minor crowd unrest due to hot favourite Apache (10/4 on) falling after shaping up well in the homestretch. What got the crowd agitated was the fact that jockey Zervan appeared to be going well in hand until the distance post and when Jack Frost came to challenge, Apache failed to quicken as largely expected. Worse, Zervan dropped his whip at the crucial juncture and that was a fatal error. That was enough to send a few in the crowd bellowing, which saw the number increase. Some irate race-goers started to throw debris into the paddock and such action grows rapidly.

The stipendiary stewards soon called for a Stewards enquiry. After deliberations the stewards ruled to declare Apache a non-starter, thereby announcing that all bets placed on the favourite were void and to be refunded. That quelled the crowd alright, but the bookmakers then refused to operate in protest. Even a substantial (50%) deduction to their liabilities didn’t seem to calm them down. Majority of the bookmakers did not operate their stalls for the following three races.

All seemed on course as Sunny Sea and Light of Arabia shared the lead all the way into the straight. Midnight Dancer and Apache followed the pair in front with Theory and Jack Frost a couple of lengths further behind.

Apache cruised past the front running pair effortlessly and appeared to be heading fluently towards the winning post. Jack Frost (Kingda Ka – Breeze And I) with P Trevor in the saddle started to inch forward, gaining on the favourite which still was going hard held. Just when one imagined Apache would quicken and run away, Jack Frost began to accelerate well. Zervan was now desperately trying to get Apache to fire. That didn’t happen and in his frenzy to thwart the looming threat, Zervan did the worst error a jockey can do. He lost his whip!

Jack Frost thundered homeward and left Apache behind and to his credit, finished on exceptionally well to carve out a memorable win on debut. He deservedly won his first assignment with a fine performance.

Zervan though, cut a sorry figure, but he honestly admitted to have erred in prolonging his tight rein grip a stride or two too long. However, he has been riding in this manner on numerous occasions, in fact he won the two previous races atop Sailor and The Big Bull in similar fashion. While he won on the former a lot more comfortably, Zervan caused high anxiety astride The Big Bull who won by a whisker. There didn’t seem in unfair play on intent on the part of the jockey to have deliberately thrown his whip away or any unhealthy intentions. The fall of the whip will always have contrasting opinions. However, in such cases, circumstantial evidence is a pointer. And the clinching one is the bookmaker ring movements. There was no drift in the odds on Apache and the only trend was the odds going further down from around 55/100, closing at 40/100. In most cases this is the nailing piece of evidence. Zervan ought to get the benefit of doubt going by the markets on this score. He may have been over-confident or even a bit shoddy in handling (rather mishandling) of the whip. Casting aspiration on his intent or to accuse him of deliberately throwing away his whip, as some loose tongues were wagging at the racecourse, in my opinion, is a bit too harsh, at least in this case.

Jack Frost’s owner Mr Peter Deubet was all smiles. The friendly gentleman responsible for the IGCC festivities at the RWITC enjoys his horses and a debut victory was something he would relish a long time. Jack Frost always looked better once he got close to Apache. In the final furlong, he completely outpaced Apache who looked out of steam at the business end.

Ironically, the only two horses that obliged the followers of money on the nine-race card--Sailor and The Big Bull--were both ridden to victory by Zervan. However, that was not how he had started the day.

The opening race, Royal Deeds Plate, saw Zervan's mount Ghanghorr getting some inspired support to end up a clear first favourite at 9/4, with Argyle Ping (Sandesh) slightly drifting to 17/4 and Feast Of Love (Trevor) quite steady at 5/1. Angel's Dream was lethargic at the start as Zafirah hit the front being stalked by Prince Arius, with Light Up My Day and Argyle Pink racing together, followed by Ghanghorr, and Feast Of Love content keeping company to Ibis at the rear part. Zafirah sustained the momentum until the 400-m marker, but was soon overhauled by Argyle Pink who was being seriously threatened by Ghanghorr, giving the impression that the favourite may eventually touch the wire first. However, both Argyle Pink and Ghanghorr looked pedestrian when Trevor brought up SS Shah-trained Feast Of Love (Mull Of Kintyre - Fabulous Fortune) with a flourish and sliced between the two warring horses to go away for a comfortable victory.

The next race, the lower division of the Simply Gorgeous Plate, saw another public choice biting the dust. Rocky Balboa (S Kamble) was backed to the exclusion of all his rivals, closing at 17/10, with one of the three Antia-trained runners--Ice Gate--next in demand at 5/1. Ironically, it was another Antia ward, Wind Craft (Prabhu Niadu), who hit the front from the word go, closely followed by favourite Rocky Balboa, and the two ended up finishing in the same order at the finish line with the favourite desperately trying to catch him all the way in the straight but in vain. And just when Wind Craft looked set to pull it off, Nature Boy (NS Paramar) who was furtively improving along the inner rails all the time, tried to squeeze in through a gap that was abruptly closed by a wavering Wind Craft, resulting in a bad check for Nature Boy who dropped back to the fourth spot. Parmar lodged a protest against winner Wind Craft (Aragorn - Tight Circle), but failed to win a favourable verdict.

The same silks worn by Prabhu Naidu astride Wind Craft continued their lucky run in the next race, albeit at the cost of a fourth straight win by Heat Wave trained by none other than Antia who had saddled Wind Craft for R K Wadhawan & his partners. In the bookmakers' ring, with most of the money cornered by M K Jadhav-trained Zoom Zoom (Sandesh) who firmed up at 7/4, and some inspired betting coming Heat Wave's way in the closing moments settling him at 13/4, the Dallas Todywalla-trained War Horse eased to 7/1 along with Jimbo & Deep Diver. On the racetrack, however, War Horse (Razeen - Margarita Rita) made every post of the six-furlong trip a winning one, and though Heat Wave made a gallant bid in the final furlong and covered incredible ground, he was still shy at the wire by a clear half length.

The grand run of the lesser fancied horses was arrested in the next race, the upper division of the P A d'Avoine Trophy for class IV horses, when trainer Ms Nina Lalwani's Sailor (Ikhtyar - Laschivious) received overwhelming support in the hands of Zervan to become a clear first favourite against Divine Solitaire (Trevor) in the bookmakers' ring (though the latter maintained his status as Tote fav), and to the delight of his followers, swamped the opposition in style. Racing a close third or fourth as Burgundy Rose dictated the pace to Earth Tamer, Sailor moved up with telling strides midway in the homestretch to put the issue beyond doubt and sail away for a lengthening margin of four lengths. Divine Solitaire had to struggle all the way and was never in the contention before finally managing to finish in the frame, grabbing the fourth-place behind Natalian Express and Just By Chance with whom he figured in a photo for place.

Zervan's next victory astride The Big Bull (Razeen - Forest Treasure) however turned out be hair-raising for the followers of the Pesi Shroff ward who went to the post as an overwhelming 11/10 favourite in the D W Reid Plate. Sandesh astride Janis Jay had a hard time settling the Imtiaz Sait trainee who hung in for more than a furlong after leaving the gates, but once he took her to the front, she settled really well. Zervan settled The Big Bull in fourth spot behind Achieve and Polynesia who kept stalking the leader. Janis Jay brought the field into the homestretch and shook off Achieve and Polynesia despite their all out efforts to level up with her, but Sandesh had to when The Big Bull joined the issue. Inside the final furlong, it looked like The Big Bull had finally won the battle of nerves, but just then Sandesh managed to squeeze the last ounce of fuel from Janis Jay's tank to grab the initiative once more. Both went none for nose in the last 50 meters to touch the wire almost together, but the photo ruled in favour of The Big Bull by margin of a hundredth part of a second, needless to say, to the delight of the backers of the favourite. 

In the lower division of the P A d'Avoine Trophy, The Other Song (Ace – Singita) finally came good and was strong at the finish to sweep a bunch of hard tries off to score her maiden victory in style.

Supertramp did all the initial running and led the field all the way into the homestretch. Even as they turned for home, Supertramp had still a handy lead but he failed to stretch home the advantage. He started to fade away and soon Zanthos, Laurus Pride and Pamushana wore him down. Laurus Pride in a desperate bid surged ahead and was constantly fighting off both Zanthos and Pamushana. Way back in the rear, The Other Song was asked for an effort by jockey Dashrath Singh. His constant urging and rhythmic use of the whalebone struck a chord with The Other Song. Past the distance post, The Other Song still had to cover ground. But her superb acceleration was a la Keukenhof, sent the others packing and the bay filly owned by Mr Vivek Jain and family bounded home to score a very impressive victory.

Song of Sparrow (Jeremy – Shirley Moon) drove home the good start advantage to carve out a brave start to finish victory. Song of Sparrow, smartly ridden by apprentice jockey GS Prasad, who is developing with each passing day, entered the straight with a useful lead. Habibian was way down the field and had a lot to do in the straight. It proved too much to do in the final outcome. Habibian was definitely the fastest moving in the final furlong. He got past them all, but found a tar in Song of Sparrow who stubbornly held on to stay clear by half a length at the wire.  Ice Skater did enough to pip Rajsamman for the third spot.

Wiki Wiki and favourite Scarlet of Hope matched strides right from the start and entered the straight together. They had a substantial lead with Ice Skates a good three lengths behind. Gran Amigo and Yardstick were another two lengths away. Ice Skates was ridden out aggressively by apprentice S Mosin and soon he got Ice Skates to devour ground briskly. He pounced on the pair in front and took off to surge clear and post a convincing win. Gran Amigo ran on to finish second ahead of Yardstick who did well to finish in the money.

For the professionals, trainer Hurmuz Antia saddled a double and jockeys Zervan and Trevor scored a double each as well.