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ROTARIANS CONGREGATE, PUT UP GOOD SHOW

By Mahendra Mallya | 23 Nov 2014 | MUMBAI


All was going well until the finish of the seventh race on a day that was touted as one for humanity. The Rotary Club Race day had several races categorized for noble causes and various activities off the track showcased an entertaining Sunday afternoon. With several Rotary luminaries such as Rotarian Kalyan Banerjee, former Rotary International President/Chairman, involved in charitable drives, it was a Sunday outing for everyone to enjoy.

However, the outcome of the day’s penultimate race, The Rotary Club of Bombay Queens Necklace Cup turned a beautiful day to culminate on an unsavory note. Congressional, ridden by champion jockey A Sandesh was the joint favourite to win the race run over a mile.

Speed King led the field from the start with hail the King and Troppa Bella following a couple of lengths away. Sandesh had to come in from an outside draw and in his attempt to go for the rails, he settled his mount in the seventh spot, which is the norm in most cases over this distance. Besides, Sandesh had kept Congressional on the tail of Rule Downunder who was a about a length ahead of him.

On turning for home, Speed King could not sustain and although he had a handy lead, he failed to capitalize. Soon Rule Downunder came to prominence and accelerated well to take charge. Sandesh moved to third and was looking for an opening to make his run. He shot through the gap between Speed King and Rule Downunder and was putting up a strong finish. Rule Downunder always had the upper hand and was travelling well too. Sandesh got Congressional closer to Rule Downunder but the latter had enough legs to prevail by half length.

On his way back to the unsaddling enclosure, it is learnt that Sandesh was abused and one unruly punter also tried to physically attack the jockey. This sparked a row and roughish behaviour managed to grab the attention of more such elements. Soon a large crowd gathered and started screaming and acting boorish. The Stipendiary stewards found nothing questionable and cleared the race. The crowd though went on shouting, which forced the club authorities to call the police to quell the unruly mob that had blocked the passage for horses for the next race to make their way to the gates. In trying to go on with the last race, the horses were routed through the saddling enclosure. Some from the mob moved on to the track forcing the Club to cancel the last race.

Such acts are unacceptable and all measures have to be taken to ensure that adequate security is put in force to smother such attempts before they snowball into anything dramatic. The club took an impromptu decision to suspend jockey Sandesh pending enquiry. Sandesh was however, permitted to fulfill his engagements at Hyderabad which he had committed to earlier.

Sandesh claimed that he had received threatening calls later on and duly reported the matter to the police.

Maisha kept her date with victory and galloped on to win without any fuss. She chose to settle back for the early part of the race and let Zodiac and Full Moon do their bit until the turn.

Once into the straight, Maisha progressed effortlessly and easily sailed to the front and stretched out fluently to start her Mumbai campaign on a winning note. She looked good and seems right on cue in preparing for the sterner tests in the Indian classics.  

The day began on a sedate note and the first race was claimed by on money favorite Divine Wish (Ace – Difficult Doll, Poona Stud) who won it with absolute ease.

Katniss hit the front on settling down with Gyahana in second; Divine Wish improved to third with Leontine on her outside, Ashwa Yodha was in the rear. Divine Wish took charge soon on turning for home and in the matter of seconds sped away from them all. She looked a clear winner with 300 still to go and none could match up with her brilliance. Leontine labored to get past Katniss to take the runner-up spot.

Golden Belle (Ace Abs Fabs, Poonawalla Stud) glided to her maiden win without encountering any challenge at any stage. She hit the front and young Yash Narredu worked in sync as they kept the others at safe distance all though.

On turning for home, Golden Belle showed a clean pair of heels as she kept the momentum going. Spirited Touch the one chasing the leader for the most part could not come up with anything worthwhile. Costa Del Sol improved positions and could use this race as an important educative run. He did well to progress towards the finish and take the second slot. Mount Rushmore, who received strong support at race time, failed to live up the expectations and ended a tame fourth behind Spirited Touch.

Danse Debonaire (Royal Gladiator – Danseuse) from Narendra Lagad’s stables pulled off a determined start to finish victory that floored most punters. Burlesque and Zabisco had garnered most of the betting, but neither came to even get a whiff of victory.

Danse Debonaire showed good speed as he zipped in to take the early lead and led by more than two lengths all the way into the straight. Replica was in second all the way, but could not improve on it. It was Dixie Delight who made a strong bid from the outside and started to gain on the leader. Fleetwood Mac too was making an all out effort past eh distance post. Danse Debonaire started to drift out in the final furlong, but held on grimly to win narrowly. Dixie Delight was unlucky not to have been rewarded for a good effort, and had to be contended with the second spot. Fleetwood Mac ran both close and once again showed his consistency. He only needs to up his ante a bit more to reap richer rewards.

The Rotary Club of Bombay Pier-KRYFS Cup was reduced to three after the late withdrawals of Rosie Sunshine and Mykonos. Mint Approach tried the end-to-end tactics as he led well into the straight with Dynamo lurking in second. Mauna Kea was not up to it and made no impact. Dynamo ridden by DK Ashish started to mount pressure on Mint Approach approaching the distance post and after a brief resistance, got past the leader. Mint Approach tried to wrest back the issue and fought hard, but Dynamo never relented and stayed ahead to pull off a fighting win.

Polydences (Oratorio – Perfect Polly, Sohna Stud) carried his Pune form and dished out another near-perfect performance with Yash Narredu astride. She too hit the front soon on start and galloped purposefully making them all run.

In the straight, Polydences stayed in charge even as War Command mound a serious challenge midway in the straight. Royal Passion was not getting to his best and ended up with a below par run. Your Royal Majesty improved late to make a strong bid, but by then Polydences had it all sewn up. He however, managed to peg back War Command. It was a close finish though with first three finishing within one and quarter lengths.  

For the professionals, jockeys DK Ashish and Yash Narredu scored a double each.