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BANGALORE COLTS' CHAMPIONSHIP STAKES, Gr.1
By Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.) | 17 Jun 2016 |
Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.)
One of racing's oldest aphorisms says, "Follow unbeaten horses till they are beaten". What is doesn't say is when to start following them. One would have come to grief if Lochness was selected on this basis for her winning streak ended last Sunday. Racing's distilled wisdom is also silent on what to do when two unbeaten horses face each other. Do you back both ? Do you back neither, skip the race and just watch it or do you back a third one ? These questions will perplex racegoers this coming Sunday when Whomakestherules and Serjeant At Arms oppose each other. Every person's thinking is different so there may be more answers than the questions.
Let's leave that part aside for a while and concentrate just on the horses. Whomakestherules (Multidimensional - Pricewise) is the highest rated horse in the field. Exactly half of last ten runnings have been won by the top rated contender while six favourites have scored. Malesh Narredu's ward made his debut on the last day of February and won without undue worries. He was then entered in the AUDI Multi-Million in mid-March. The race had just five runners and three of them fell making it a match between a filly and a colt. Serenita, a smart, speedy filly was in the lead from the start so was unaware of what was happening behind her. Whomakestherules, though could have seen the melee from the corner of his eye and whether it affected him or not, he was not immediately able get to Serenita who looked to have a useful break. However, he persevered and eventually wore the filly down with a determined run. The distance was palpably too short for him and his win showed his class and the stern stuff he is made of.
His last start win in the Karnataka Juvenile Million, Gr.2 was his most impressive. Tracking the favourite Ice Glacier, his rider appeared in two minds whether to pass the filly on the inside or outside. Precisely at that moment, Top Striker ranged alongside Ice Glacier on the outside and Suraj Narredu had no option but to go for the narrow opening between Ice Glacier and the running rail. He took it manfully -- as he had in his debut run -- and once he was in the clear he left the field for dead, winning by eight and a half lengths in a smart timing. Of the 15 winners of the Million this millennium, eight have won a Bangalore Summer Classic while last year's winner Admiralty did not run again till December. It is hard to find an Achilles heel in whatever Whomakestherules has done so far.
Serjeant At Arms (Ikhtyar - Rahy's Serenade) has had one start less than the Mumbai challenger and he was won both of them stylishly. On his debut, he led from the start and won by almost seven lengths. Then, he won the Bangalore Juvenile Million, Gr.3 by five lengths, this time waiting behind the pace after a good start and going away once he was given the rein. He would certainly have run during the current Bangalore season but for a set-back. After a good solo workout, he ran a mock race in which he was second to Be Safe but six and a half lengths ahead of Common Wealth who won on last Sunday. So he is apparently in pink condition. The Handicapper, however, has him 15 points below Whomakestherules.
Whomakestherules is a full-brother to that smart -- but under-achieving -- filly Starry Eyes who placed in three Indian Classics. Their dam Pricewise won four races and was fourth in Indian Oaks, Gr.1. Pricewise herself was a full-sister to Allied Forces (Wills Stayers' Cup, Gr.1) and Perceived Value (The Hindu Deccan Derby, Gr.1) as also a half-sister to Avalanche Star (Calcutta Gold Cup, Gr.2). The next dam, the Auction Ring mare Gourgandine, came to Usha Stud in-foal to Cadeaux Genereux and that foal was Avalanche Star. It may not be generally known that Hamdan Al Maktoum's colt Massat, who was second to Galileo Gold in the Quipco Two Thousand Guineas, Gr.1 this year has the same Gourgandine as his third dam. Gourgandine's produce by Razeen -- as Pricewise is -- has shown a propensity for staying and Whomakestherules will be quite comfortable over longer distances.
Serjeant At Arms has an equally impressive pedigree. His dam is perhaps the best mare to have been at Nanoli Stud. She herself did not race but has produced six black-type winners -- Allies Serenade, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Highland Crown, Onassis and Serjeant At Arms -- and remarkably enough, they are by six different stallions. The first five of the six mentioned won their black-type races only up to 2000 m. Three-parts brothers to Serjeant At Arms (out of Allies Serenade) -- Bruckner and Monet -- have however, won black-type races over 2400 m., the former bagging the Eveready Calcutta Derby, Gr.1 and the latter victorious in C.N. Wadia Gold Trophy. . Ikhtyar was may not have been everyone's idea of a Classic sire but he did get some good horses and perhaps a better use could have been made of him. Thus, Whomakestherules has a more dependable and consistent sire while the Serjeant's dam is a shade better. Both the colts are quickly off the stalls and have shown that they are quite content to stalk the pace and both produce a good turn of foot whe asked. The common factor between the two of them is Top Striker. Whomakestherules has beaten Top Striker by a longer margin but collateral form is not very reliable when the winning margins exceed three lengths.
When two rivals get obsessed with each other, it leaves the way open for a third runner to steal the race. Vasant Shinde on Everynsky and Jagdish on Aristocrat were so busy watching each other that Wally Swinburn was able to hijack the race (Indian Derby 1980). That means that one must at least give the others runners a once over to see if any one of them has capacity to upset.
Battalion (Phoenix Tower - Athlone) was twice second at Bangalore but reeled off a hat-trick at Ooty which included the Nilgiris Derby, Gr.1 and Nilgiris 2000 Guineas, Gr.3. For all that, Neil Darashah is rated substantially lower than the Big Two. The dam -- a Listed winner in Italy -- is a daughter of the pronounced staying influence Montjeu and her first two foals are minor winners in India. The time spent in the rarified air of Ooty will have done Battalion good but it is hard to see him winning. The 'got-abroad' Supreme General (Old Forester - Fiery Pegasus) elicited rave notices after his maiden win recently. Old Forester was the Champion Sire in Canada while Fiery Pegasus, a daughter of the Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, was unraced, She comes from a very good American family, that of Native Dancer, Bold Lad[USA], Quick As Lightning, Dispute and others. There are no black marks against his pedigree and some of the 'got-abroads' have really thrived in the vast pastures of Hazara Stud. He won his maiden well but is still rather wet behind the ears. There is also a necessity to see the evidence of the Chettinad Charitable Trust operation having got its act together..
A bracket-mate of Supreme General is Bold March (Arazan - Indian St. Leger winner Warsaw Pact) who is certainly more experienced -- if not better -- but may end up a pacemaker. Though by Arazan, he has run consistently. In his two wins is the battling victory in the Kunigal Stud Breeders' Produce Stakes, Gr.3 at Mumbai where less than half a length covered the first four finishers. He was only sixth in the Poonawalla Breeders' Multi-Million, Gr.1 but just about a length and a half behind Common Wealth, He has beaten Emperador twice but both were contemptuously dismissed by Whomakestherules in their last start.
Angel Dust's victory in the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore, Gr.1 brought home the point that you can ignore a horse running in Dr. Vijay Mallya's colours only at your own peril. Dr. Mallya had no runner in the fillies' race, Captain Morgan is an absentee here so we are left with Summerhill (Burden of Proof - Summer Wine). Summerhill was dead last of 13 runners in the race won by Whomakestherules. A last minute change of jockey may have affected his performance on that day but a victory here would be a Herculean task though his winding up spurt was an outstanding piece of work. He is likely to be ridden by S. John, the star of last Sunday.
In recent years, the average field rating for this race in has been about 56.0. This year it is substantially lower at 50.4. The last ten winners of this race have all won a Classic subsequently while the last five runnings were won by outstation horses. The most outlandish of outcomes would be a dead-heat between the two stars and a less preposterous one for both of them to be beaten. For one to keep his slate clean is the most likely scenario. The big question, though, is "Which one? " .
PAST THE POST
Common Wealth's victory last Sunday in the fillies' race without a prep race raises the question of how important a prep race is compared to a mock race. Even before Common Wealth's win, it was known that three fillies -- Alvarita, Jacqueline and Amelia -- had won the Bangalore Fillies' Championship Stakes, Gr.1 without a proper race. So Common Wealth was not doing something new. A proper race is important from a race goer's perspective because he gets to see a horse in "real" conditions. People can certainly watch a mock race but the weights the horses carry may or may not be known. The official race card does carry them. While three fillies had won the race without a proper race, it is also true that during the same period, 34 fillies who had gone into the big race with only track preparation, failed to win. That number of 34 contained such well known names as Gypsy Magic (later Change of Luck), Moonlight Romance, Xisca, Starry Eyes and Tiger Tops to mention just a few.
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