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INTERSTELLAR COMPLETES A HAT-TRICK

By Epsom Ace | 04 Feb 2016 | KOLKATA


Mrs Neha Singh & trainer Manvendra Singh leading Interstellar (S John Up), winner of The Acorn Stakes

Thursday afternoon saw punters get the better of bookmakers as barring Super Striker in the opener of the day, the rest of the winners closed as favourites. The highlights of the day were the completion of a season hat trick by the filly Interstellar and a superb ride by local ace Christopher Alford astride Vijay Singh-trained Evesham which saw him complete yet another treble.

Visiting jockeys S John and Dashrath Singh were involved in the afternoon’s most fiery finish as Mizuno and Captain Haddock looked inseparable at the wire in the race for The Amalita Handicap. In the days prior to the electronic age, the judges would have probably declared a dead-heat, but the camera and the timer showed a difference of a 0.001 sec between the pair. Much to the delight of the crowd, the 2/1 favourite Captain Haddock (Admiralofthefleet-Belladee/ Kunigal Stud) was declared the winner. Trainer Manvendra Singh and his rider S. John completed a double when the filly Interstellar (Top Class-Eternal Spirit/ Mukteshwar Stud) won The seven-furlong race for The Acorn Stakes with a degree of comfort.  After a good jump out, John permitted Burnished Gold to lead till into the straight before making his move along the rails.

Christopher Alford’s opening mount Super Striker (Arabian Gulf – Cocoanut Squeak/ Manjri Stud) from Bharath Singh’s yard was available at 9/2, possibly because of the outside draw in a field of 14 runners. However, the unperturbed Alford, displaying his usual dexterity, was the first to jump out and virtually made it a start-to-finish affair. Though showing some early speed, Lineage drifted out in the straight badly.

Defying the handicapper’s penalty of 6kg, Bath-trained Anastasio (Varenar-You Say I Say) picked up the Obolensky Handicap with ridiculous ease. The other runners were never in the picture. The filly Snow White may have felt the strain of running within a space of less than two weeks after a hard-fought second.

Alford then completed his treble with a brilliant ride atop Evesham (Tariq-Everybody Counts/ Equus Stud) who was fortunate to run at a mark which has been virtually static after winning The Army Cup and ending up second in the Calcutta Sprint Championship to Dancing Phoenix. Lying last of nine till the straight, Alford brought him along the rails with a good run to peg back the consistent Gentle Knowledge who was making his bid down the centre.

Bharath Singh completed his double when last-time-failure Suzanna (Win Legend – Just Amazing/ Dashmesh Stud) was given a free rein by Dashrath from the word go and made every post a winning one in the race for the L Fownes Memorial Cup. She obviously loves it in front and attempts to do a waiting race with her in the past have not been very successful. Named after one of the fillies from the Fownes stable in the seventies, The Little Beaut Handicap saw even money public choice Claymore (Dark Angel-Gavotte) from Ari Doctor’s yard make every post a winning one in the hands of PS Chouhan. The top-weight won in smart timing and may win again. He will be worth following.