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ARTA MAKES EVERY POST A WINNING ONE

By Pearcey | 19 Jul 2014 | BANGALORE


Trainer S S Attaollahi leading Arta (Yash Narredu Up), winner of The Karnataka Sub-Area Cup

Suleiman Attaolahi’s Arta displayed vastly improved form while scoring a pillar-to-post victory in The Karnataka Sub-Area Cup at the Bangalore races on Saturday.  For the four year old filly, who had won the first race of her career in the month of February , it was victory number four on Saturday. She has been improving with each run and has never been out of the first two in each of her six runs at this centre. It goes to the credit of Attaolahi for keeping her in such good condition. With this success in her bag, Arta will hereafter be testing her skills against horses in the highest category. The day’s feature, which happened to be a sprint for horses rated in class II , had attracted a “full house” of twelve runners. On the basis of his victory in the same class about a month ago, Rashid Byramji’s Triumph was the first choice of the punters. He had won back to back races in winter before leaving for Hyderabad to participate in the “Invitation Weekend”.  He was distinctly unlucky to lose a race at that centre. After getting into serious traffic problems for most of the way, Triumph had done well to finish a close third in that race. He came back to Bangalore, and it did not take him long to get back into the winning groove. Even though he had beaten a similar set of runners in his last start, there was a small difference today. A nineteen point penalty handed out to him by the handicapper, had ensured that the runners were evenly matched in the day’s feature. Arta, who had finished second to Triumph , was obviously better placed at the scales in this race. But the supporters of Triumph were ready to ignore this factor while backing him with confidence. They rued their decision when they saw Triumph struggling to find a place on the result boards. In the hands of apprentice Yash Narredu, Arta did well to bag this prestigious trophy.

The twelve of them took off to a level start. Jumping out of an inner draw,  Arta was taken quickly to the front. She led at a good pace ahead of Will Star, Hillsboro and Amazing Desire. Fancied horses like Triumph and Icelander were seen toiling at the back. The chasing pack was closely huddled as they made their way into the straight. It was hereabouts that Arta kicked away from the rest. She lengthened her strides at the top of the straight and went on to open up a winning lead into the final furlong. Triumph was put under enormous pressure by Imran Chisty, but the bay refused to budge. He continued to plod in mid group and finished off the frame. With Yash waving his whip at Arta, she continued to march comfortably towards the winning post . She was followed at a respectable distance by a rank outsider named Amazing Desire. In a close finish for the minor berths, Hillsboro just about retained third ahead of a fast finishing Smithsonite.

The only other trophy event in the day’s card was The Mount Everest Trophy. It was a sprint reserved for maiden three year olds. An expensive failure in an earlier start, Padmanabhan’s Scarlet Emperor was installed as a piping hot favourite in this race. The nice looking horse failed to garner further support, and the odds against him began to expand as the runners reached the starting gates. Style N Grace and Hector received stray support in the betting rings. Suraj took a smart jump astride Style N Grace and pushed her ahead of Scarlet Emperor. The pair led by a few lengths  from Scorching and Hector. The leading pair raced abreast as they entered the straight. While Style N Grace was being pushed along, Scarlet Emperor was traveling  on tight reins. John released the brakes near the two furlong marker. Scarlet Emperor spurted away to win by a widening margin from Hector, Scorching and Style N Grace. While the winner scored by a fairly large margin, the three placed horses  ended within whispering distance of each other. With this impressive victory in his bag, Scarlet Emperor will be tough to oppose in his next start.

This happened to be the second success for John, as he had already won an earlier race astride Warren Singh’s Legal Legacy. The three year old had run a number of times in maiden company and ended unplaced on each of those occasions. Because of those ordinary efforts, Legal Legacy was allotted  a low rating by the handicapper. Warren was quick to pounce on this opportunity , and chose a class IV scurry for the filly on Saturday. She was seen receiving weight from most of her opponents. Legal Legacy proved to be too strong for the rest of them. She literally carried John to the front and stayed there till the very end. A mild reminder  was enough to see her quicken in the straight. She won without being extended from Cool Springs, Interactive and Zulu Fantasy. The efforts of the placed horses were so poor that it is difficult to visualize any of them winning a race in the next few months. Legal Legacy has the ability to repeat on promotion.

A couple of class III races were part of the day’s card. The first one was a seven furlong handicap open to horses of all ages. A number of three year olds had accepted to run in this race. The betting was confined to a pair of youngsters. Celtic Prince and Soviet Union had won their maiden races this season. As both had scored by widening margins, they were rated in the present category.  However, since Celtic Prince had won with a lot of authority, he was fancied marginally ahead of his rival. With Lovely Lady, Jersey Bride and Sairani fighting for an early advantage, the riders of Celtic Prince and Soviet Union decided to stay at the back. Once the front runners got tired in the straight, the two riders began to move forward. Steyn brought Celtic Prince through the middle, while Trevor chose to make his bid astride Soviet Union on the wide outside. Celtic Prince sizzled past Lovely Lady  and stormed towards the finishing line. With the others continuing to plod at the back, the race was in the safe keeping of this Altamash trainee. Soviet Union, Coolmore and Lovely Lady ended in a heap while taking the other places on the result boards. Fancied Sairani ran pathetically to end in the ruck.

The other race happened to be a sprint confined to horses which were older than the age of four . Mumbai based Beforememoryfades was a strong choice of the punters. The filly had scored during the winter months at Mumbai, and had reached Bangalore at the start of this season. Her recent movements on the training track had been extremely suggestive. She was known to be quite comfortable over the present distance. Horses like Accuracy, Yellowzone and Artorius were considered to be her closest challengers. Allowing the speedy Grand Applause to go ahead, Neeraj Rawal chose to keep Beforememoryfades in second position. The pair was closely followed by Yellowzone and Rumour Has It till the final furlong. The others were spread right across the track as they moved towards the final post. Those who had backed the favourite began to lose hope with each passing moment. Beforememoryfades was seen struggling to improve her position and the filly was  finding it difficult  to get anywhere close to Grand Applause. Under some strong riding from Imran Chisty, the Dominic trained horse was able to maintain his hold on this race. A late finishing Strombolite managed to get up in the last few strides to beat Beforememoryfades into third position.  The favourite is sure to improve after this run and will be worth supporting after she returns to Pune.

An interesting finish was witnessed in a class IV scurry held during the afternoon. Top weighted Little Love was considered to be far superior than his nine opponents. Even though this Satish Narredu trainee was conceding chunks of weight to the field, it was felt that he was a higher class horse running in mediocre company. Little Love received one-sided support in the betting rings and started as the shortest priced favourite on Saturday. Suraj settled him comfortably behind Stimulator and Anfield till they reached the final bend , and made his move only in the straight. With the front runners beginning to slow down, Little Love cruised to the front. However, he took some time to increase the tempo. In the midst of all this,  Anfield came with a second run and engaged the favourite in a duel. While Suraj was making free use of the whalebone on Little Love, apprentice Bhawani Singh continued to push Anfield. The nine kilo difference between the two of them finally had a big say in the final result. Anfield improved steadily in the last hundred metres  and managed to beat Little Love by a length near the winning post. Rubi Rey improved from the tail end of the field to finish a fair third ahead of Kentucky Rose and Stimulator.

The rest of the day’s card was confined to the two divisions of a sprint for those in the lowest category.  Both these races were won in identical fashion. While Secret Punch ran away with the top division of this race, it was Rock N Rolla who showed a clean pair of heels to his opponents in the day’s opener. Amit Caddy’s Rock N Rolla was second favourite behind the strongly supported Suezy Oh. The latter , trained by Lokanath, had decent form to back her credentials. Her close finish behind Rock With U last summer was good enough to canter away with this race. However, her poor performance on Saturday presented this race on a platter to Rock N Rolla. Suraj took a good jump from an extreme draw and settled Rock N Rolla behind the speedy Raaga. Mister Grey and Oriental Belle raced in close order as they skirted the false rails and turned for home. It was hereabouts that Suraj decided to “go”. He relaxed his grip on Rock N Rolla and gave him a couple of back-handers. The four year old spurted in the final furlong and won by a widening margin from a late finishing Balance Of Nature and Oriental Belle. For the records, Suezy Oh performed pathetically to finish off the frame.

Sirajuddin’s Secret Touch did the same a bit later in the afternoon. A Imran Khan had to use all his skills to hold her behind a couple of no-hopers. After Oriental Star and Prince Of Kintyre ran out of gas near the two furlong marker, it was time for the Chief Guest to arrive. Secret Touch came with smooth strides to go past the leaders. She was on tight reins for rest of the way. The small-made Secret Touch beat Thunder, Tradition and Liquid Asset with ridiculous ease. The winner has struck such good form ,that  it may not surprise many if she posts another victory in the next couple of months.