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CARLTON STRIKES GOLD IN HIGHEST CATEGORY

By Madhukar Bhagawan | 23 Jul 2015 | HYDERABAD


Trainer S A Shehzad Abbas leading Carlton (A Ashhad Asbar Up), winner of The Sri S Ramakrishnam Raju Memorial Cup

S.A.Shehzad Abbas trained Carlton (Diffident-Celestrella / Kunigal Stud) won the Sri S Ramakrishnam Raju Memorial Cup, a seven furlongs race for horses in the highest category that featured Thursday’s races at Hyderabad. The 4 year old bay colt which had won six races from fourteen starts and finishing off the judge’s frame on only one occasion was sent off at 8-1 with Dare To Dream which had done well, finishing fifth, in the Indian Turf Invitation Cup garnering the maximum support at 5-4. Deshmukh’s filly Supreme Fairy had her share of supporters as the second in demand at 7-4. 

On entering the home stretch Dare To Dream assumed command readily and was travelling well under Imran Chisty. Carlton racing in about eighth or ninth till approaching the final bend, started to improve gradually and when the rider A Ashhad Asbar picked up the stick, began to gallop resolutely to down the ‘Dreams’ of the favourite with half a furlong left from the finish. Supreme Fairy rallied on to take the third place.

Jockey Imran Chisty did not have any difficulty in guiding the unbeaten Woman O War (Kingda Ka-Silver Clasp) to an effortless victory by a lengthening margin in the S Malakonda Reddy Memorial Cup. The 3 year old filly trained by M Srinivas Reddy which had won all its four starts was installed as the on-money favourite for the seven furlongs race. L D’Silva’s Whispering Pines who had returned from a successful Bangalore trip, having won twice from three starts hit the front from an outward draw and called the shots till entering the final straight. Woman O War, settled easily in about fifth all the way took a gap between horses inside the last two furlongs and stretched out effortlessly on her own without Chisty having to burn any energy. The filly is in pink of condition and it would be prudent to follow her till beaten. Happy Guy managed to get the better of the tiring Whispering Pines for the second place.

S.S.Faisal Hassan trained Faster Than Light (Oath-Fantasia Girl / Pratap Stud) who had opened his account at Bangalore continued to dominate in the Aristocracy Cup. Mighty Swing, O Ms Akilah and Love For The Game ran abreast till the top of the straight. Faster Than Light, sent off at a staggering odds of less than half the investment, began to gallop around the front runners, about five away from the fence and when let go by Akshay Kumar, left the field cold by six lengths. O Ms Akilah, Mighty Swing and Love For The Game finished second, third and fourth respectively.

Fancied runners had to bite the dust in both the divisions of the Rani Laxmi Bai Plate, 1100 metres scurry for maiden 3 year olds. R H Sequeira schooled Eternal Gift (Black Cash-Apertini )showed plenty of speed at start to take the lead with Pamela in close attendance. The filly sent off at 10-1 started to move away from the pack inside the last 400 metres and the Picture Perfect looked to be under pressure and barely managed to beat Pamela for the second place. Kiss N Chase, another fancied runner broke down on top of the straight and did not finish the course.

K.satheesh trained Delta Force (Win Legend-Celestial Star) won the lower division beating the favourite In Command by the shortest of margins. Angel Bell and Golden Angel disputed the lead till the last 300 metres. In Command was quick to gather the lead from around the duo and Delta Force joined the fight quickly. The two went almost stride for stride over the last 100 metres with Suraj Narredu riding out In Command and B Dileep pulling out the best in him. The bobbling of the heads went in favour of Delta Force who had hit the winning post first a ‘short-head’ in front. The Blue and Prudently Perfect finished third and fourth respectively.

Trainer K Satheesh was the only professional to score a double on the day. His 5 year old mare, Trustful (Inhabitant-Golden Collection) won the Cupid Plate, the concluding race of the day. Trustful set out to make every post a winning one and came in first on the straight. The favourite Military Cross started to challenge from the outside and was inching closer towards the closing stages but the winning post came to the rescue of Trustful who held on to win by a ‘head’.

L.D’Silva trained Par Excellence (Saffron Walden-Louve Secrete / Doaba Stud), a winner just a week ago, came good to score an encore in the Sunny Blossom Plate. Stable companion Goldie started off to lead the pack with the first five in a close cluster till entering the straight and Par Excellence racing sixth. Passing the distance post Nano Dame looked good from the outside with Goldie, Olympic Gold and Cloud Dancer all of them bidding for it in a line. Par Excellence found no space between the four and was pulled out by jockey A K Pawar. Once shown the daylight from the outside Par Excellence picked up momentum in a trice and sped past to wrap it up by half a length. Nano Dame was second while Olympic Gold ended up third ahead of Cloud Dancer.