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SPEEDSTER MEEKATHARA LANDS PA BEAR CUP

By Epsom Ace | 25 Nov 2014 | KOLKATA


Mr. G. Sengupta & trainer Shafiq Khan leading Meekathara (N S Parmar Up), Winner of The Pa Bear Cup

Tuesday afternoon at the Calcutta racecourse was dominated by horses with higher odds. Barring bred-in-the-blue Acrider (Placerville-Saffron Dancer/Poonawalla Stud), no public fancy could see the winner’s enclosure. The latter, from Vijay Singh’s yard, won the mile race for the Fame Star Handicap in a canter, virtually making every post a winning one in the hands of Christopher Alford. The bay thus raised the classic hopes of the centre’s premier stable and his improvement will be watched closely over the next few weeks.

The feature event of the day, The Pa Bear Cup, was bagged by Shafiq Khan-trained Meekathara (El Johar-Hava Nagila/Mukteshwar Stud) with Parmar in the saddle. The speedster was available at 5/1 and came out of the stalls like a scalded cat with hot favourite Scartella in tow. The order remained the same throughout the seven-furlong race with both Slade Valley and Self Directed trying to make their runs in the straight, but the front-running sprinter managed to go the extra furlong without too much trouble. Meekathara was incidentally the third El Johar youngster to win this afternoon.

The morning showed the day to follow as friendless Ego Ego Ego (El Johar-Mama Mia/ Mukteshwar) won the Silver Handicap with leap-year jockey Md Sameer in the saddle. The on-money public choice Divine Dimension jumped out well but was held in check as second favourite Asian Rocket called the shots till the turning for home where both A’Ma Shukum and Ego Ego Ego made their moves simultaneously with the Vikash Jaiswal ward prevailing quite comfortably at the wire.

The sprint for two-year-olds, The Ridicular Plate, witnessed a ‘ridiculous’ result from the punter’s point of view – but a fair one nevertheless. Trainer Robert Gowli’s Gimme Credit (Chevalier-Star Pride/ Ruia Stud) got the better of the fancied trio of Forest Dunes, Sparkishly and Verena Rose. Jockey Arman Khan had prepared the colt on the track and was rightly entrusted with the debut run. Tracking front-running Verena Rose till the distance post, he scooted ahead to win as he liked. The favourite Sparkishly even failed to feature in the minor placings. Though troublesome while stalling, Sanjit was impressive as he ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

It seems that a certain section of racegoers is convinced that any youngster from the Vijay Singh yard making his debut ought to be installed as a favourite. However, that is not the case. One has to have a certain amount of ability to assess and evaluate the strengths of the candidate and the opposition. Like Divine Dimension and Sparkishly, it was not surprising to see Native Speaker take a beating in the Ich Dien Handicap. The race would have probably been won by the 8/1 shot Ever Green with a little help from the saddle. Parmar took his mount all over the track before finding himself blocked along the rails. As for Don Magnifico, also available at 8/1, any reliable apprentice in lieu of I.Khan may have done the trick in a blanket finish. The race was won by the unlikely Bath-trained Chhundu (Eljohar-Body And Soul/ Mukteshwar Stud) with Afzal Khan in the saddle. The win dividend was a whopping Rs 468.

In the penultimate race of the day, The Our Owen Handicap, Vijay Singh’s Aculeus was once again installed as the firm favourite. Shailesh Shinde atop the latter tried to ride a flawless race as he followed pacemaker Mister Positive till the straight and made an effort to pull away, but was caught and beaten handsomely by Javed khan-trained Beyond Expectation (Ikhtyar-Zuni/ Nanoli Stud) who was being piloted by the experienced Kamlesh.

The last race of the day, the Sound Of Cheers Handicap, saw a major mishap which resulted in three horses losing their riders (Snowfall, Secret Builder and Artemisia). M Krishna on the last named was very seriously injured and is in a critical condition in a city hospital under observation. One can only pray and hope for his early recovery. The race was bagged by Richard Alford-trained Burst Of Stardust (Burden Of Proof-Soviet Dancer/ Kunigal Stud) with apprentice Nikhil in the saddle in yet another blanket finish involving Elusive Hurricane and Impression.