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Got To Go… Miles And More – To The Fore

By North-End | 12 Apr 2008 | MUMBAI


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Debutant Got To Go (Neeraj Rawal) and Stayer Miles And More scored thumping victories in their respective races on Saturday at the Mahalaxmi. Got To Go jointly owned by M/s SM Ruia, S. Jhaveri, Sunil Bansali and Pradeep Singhania, did not have it easy though. He was not the quickest out and had a wall of horses in front. Settling in the latter position in a tightly packed bunch, Got To Go was not at all prominent until he forced his presence midway up the straight. It was Hymns To Freedom (Belose), who charged ahead to lead the field homeward. Alaska (Chavan) and Kapathos (Narredu) were pressed hard to catch up but were making no impact on Hymns Of Freedom. Nearing the distance post, Got To Go got going with a telling burst to easily haul the chasers and in the last 50 meters finished with a rattle to force past Hymns Of Freedom by ¾ length and register an impressive victory on debut. Hymns Of Freedom ran a good race too. Alaska stubbornly held on to place money while Kapathos may have needed the run. Miles And More out lasted his rivals in the 2000 meters Bhaktawar Plate. Fantastic Fury (PS Chouhan) showed undue eagerness to hit the front and was pushed to go ahead. Kindom Of Love (C Alford) settled into second, Desert Dust and Fired Up raced together and Miles And More was a close last. Fantastic Fury surrendered meekly in the straight as Kingdom Of Love raced ahead. Desert Dust the rank outsider gave a serious chase and looked like causing a major upset. However, with 200 metres to go, Miles And More began to cover ground and put the issue beyond doubt with a strong finish. Desert Dust was a noteworthy second and Kingdom Of Love was relegated to the third. L. Prashant appeared out of sorts astride Rising Princess in the first race and was certainly lucky to win the race. Hitting the front soon on start, Rising Princess led the field home but had horses in hot pursuit and a close finish was evident. Rising Princess was striding well and with 300 metres to go one would expect totally forceful effort from the jockey. However, Prashant was listless and was weak in his finishing effort and bearly managed to win in a very close finish. Black Hussar could not sustained and Tribal Warrior was a wee bit too late on the scene. I would give all credit to the Hormuz Antia trained filly for the victory despite little assistance from the saddle. See The Truth put in a sizzling finish to shock Algo Mas and company on the post. Pacemaker once again shifted in sharply soon on start to grab the early initiative. Leading them home, Pacemaker could not sustain for too long and soon had Algo Mas and Nectar Jewel closing in. As the race got hotter, Algo Mas was desperate wishing for the winning post to arrive. Nectar Jewel was in the thick of things when Samuel Fargeat, to the horror of the followers of the favourite, dropped his whip at this crucial stage, which may have cost him the race. See The Truth (Rangane) came speeding on the wide outside and timed his run to perfection to get his head on the post to edge out Algo Mas in a close finish. Nectar Jewel was a head further behind the duo. Dropping of the whip is a debatable error; however, a jockey of Samuel's caliber is expected to be more watchful. Cyclades (Kharadi) was the most convincing winner of the day. The Dhunjibhoy owned bay filly dictated her own terms and won end to end, In the home stretch she got even better and worked up an invincible lead and kicked on gamely justifying the cramped odds that was offered on her. The blinkers she had on did prove to be a positive switch after all. Mention must also me made of the Shroff ward Oh So Romantic jointly owned by Ruia and Khaitan. The bay filly came from a long way back to grab the runner up berth with some sustained pushing from Neeraj, who thought it better not to use the whip at all. The filly responded well and covered a lot of ground in the straight and is one for the notebook. Cyclades showed that she is maturing well and will add to her maiden victory in Pune. Procyon (C Alford) made mockery of the theory that a long lay off usually does not culminate in a victory. Procyon not only won well but won as he liked, form the word go! The Todywalla charge Brar owned gelding was alert at the start and shot into the lead. The only signs he showed of rustiness was while drifting out in the homestretch but jockey Alford gathered him well to forge him through to the winning post a safe distance from any rival. Solid Black came in with a lively finishing effort to catch the eye. Procyon, however, won untroubled and looks good for more. Premier Queen disappointed as she could never raise a gallop once in the straight. True Elegance fared well in snatching the place money and Kalparuksha warmed up late to find a place in the frame. The hot favourite Asclepieion was found to have bled and finished a close fifth. Landlord finally collected his dues in a race that was the most open race of the day. St. Moritz was withdrawn as the horses reached the gates. Acceptance led the field with Mercedes in close attendance, Landlord was third and the rest followed, with Simply Perfect languishing in the rear bunch. In the straight, Landlord wasted little time in getting down to serious business and jockey Amyn Merchant went past Mercedes and there seemed no other threat in sight. It was Mercedes alone who re-ran to get closer to Landlord while Simply Perfect had an erratic homerun to arrive late on the scene for the place money. Trainer HJ Antia was the only professional to score a double on the day.