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COMMON WEALTH WINS FIRST CLASSIC IN THRILLER

By Ikram Khan | 12 Jun 2016 | BANGALORE


Mr Ramanuj Babu & trainer Arjun Mangalorkar leading Common Wealth (S John Up), winner of The Fillies Championship Stakes (Gr.1)

leading trainer Arjun Manglorkar facing the camera and talking about the prospects of the Fillies Championship Stakes looked disappointed. He had first planned to race three fillies in the classic event before Sheryl had a bad experience in her debut and Common Wealth after the mock race on Sunday had gone sore. The filly was getting better but she was not 100 percent fit and Arjun decided to scratch her. Answering a question on the chances of Common Wealth and how she is shaping after the mock race, Arjun looking a trifale down announced that Common Wealth was not going to run and Aster Rose will be the only runner from his yard.   

After the small question and answer session for a TV show, Arjun went back to the stable and here the most sought after vet, Dr Hasneyn Mirza after checking out Common Wealth told him that he could run her and that the race would do no damage to the filly. John who was listed to partner Common Wealth also wanted her to compete in the classic. Arjun after getting the green signal from Dr Hasneyn Mirza decided to race Common Wealth. He  called me up after I and my camera man  had packed up to tell me that we needed to do it again since he now had Common Wealth running in the race after disclosing  on the camera that Common Wealth was out. It was all done in less than 30 minutes and that’s how close Common Wealth was from missing her bus to stardom.

This is one decision Arjun will not forget. He trusted Dr Hasneyn Mirza and showed a lot of spunk taking the final call. He was bold and fortune favours the brave, they say and it did in the case of Common Wealth and Arjun Manglorkar, his filly winning the first classic in a thriller from the unfancied Hyderabad challenger Aika Aika Aika and the favourite La Dona.

“I need to first thank Dr Hasneyn Mirza,” said Arjun before lauding the effort of John who produced an exemplary effort on the brave filly who emerged the `Queen’ despite being a trifle under the cloud  all through the summer.

“From the initial plan of racing three and down to one was very disappointing. And when Dr Hasneyn Mirza told me after the final check up that she could race, I decided to go with him and give the filly the chance to stake her claim against the best and she certainly has made me and her owners proud, said Arjun immensely pleased with the performance of the brave heart who braved every pain to make her master proud. The runner-up Aika Aika Aika, in defeat was not disgraced and lives to fight another day and so too La Dona from Darius Byramji’s yard who failed to gain a favourable position early on in the mile long classic journey before producing a fine gallop to get into the three-horse finish. Lochness from Sandhu’s yard was unlucky, sustaining an injury during the race and coming back lame, while Cataleya who was best placed all through the trip lacked the gas and the class to make a race of it.

The managing Committee Gold Cup too produced a thrilling finish, the lesser fancied Smile Stone and the 20 to one shot Invincible Prince flashing past the post locked together before the `magic’ eye nodded in favour of the `Prince’ from Padmanabhan’s yard.  The public choice Satellite found the sprint trip sharp and had to rest content with the third place while Pentagram who finished second behind Acclaimed in his last effort performed below par.

A smart winner on debut, Attorney General from Neil Darashah’s yard recorded an encore, winning the Justice P Medapa Memorial Cup in resplendent style. The in-form Neil ward is in rousing form and is set to complete a hat-trick of wins when saddled next.

Neil later led in Youre Ashwashakthi, a facile winner of the Fire Haven Plate. The winner was backed to the exclusion of his 11 rivals despite the fact that he suffers from blood vessel breaking problem. Well this time out he was sailing smoothly all through the 1100M trip and the rest were only chasing his shadow. Rakshitha did well to gain the second spot while Love For Life was in no mood to display his true potential.

The Rashid Bhyramji-trained Dubai One was the most impressive winner in the nine-event card. The winner provided jockey Srinath an arm-chair ride to success, making every post a winning one in the upper division of the Y S Surender Memorial Cup. The lower division of the event was claimed by the three to one shot Sans Peur from trainer Suleiman Attaollahi’s yard who looked a winner in the paddock. Parmar rode a copybook race on the winner to peg back the effort of Downtown Abbey and the public choice Sir Majestic who appeared a trifle gross in the parade ring.

Sheryl, Good Wishes and Star Cracker were the three other winners on the Fillies day and Sheryl was the most impressive. This filly has a lot of class and she will do the Vijay Mallya brigade a lot of good in the months ahead.