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NEW PRINCE WINS SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP IN STYLE

By Ikram Khan | 24 Jul 2016 | BANGALORE


Mr Devaraj Palaniswamy & trainer Azhar Ali leading New Prince (Arshad Alam Up), winner of The Bangalore City Sprint Championship Gold Cup (Gr.3)

After booting home four winners on Saturday, winter champion John had finished three points behind the leader Sandesh in the race for the champion jockey title. On Sunday, the top pro registered another grand treble while Sandesh continued to fire blanks and the two are now tied at 26 wins apiece with four meetings to go before the curtain is drawn for the summer season.

Before the start of the week-end races, everyone was of the view that Sandesh was clear and Arjun Manglorkar needed to add to the tally. The top trainer led in five to assume command and Sandesh, it is who is now under threat from John.

Fresh from his splendid effort on Saturday, John started on a winning note booting home the Neil Darashah-trained Yourehandsome in the opening event. King Smile garnered the maximum support but the Sharath ward finished a poor fourth behind Red Admiral and Ramon.

Neil Darashah  who has played a good innings this summer with Arjun and Sulaiman who recorded a classic double through the champion colt Serjeant At Arms  struck again through Spirit And Truth who after a couple of costly failures won the J B Mallaradhya Memorial Cup run over a distance of 2000 metres. The Mumbai pro Zervan piloted the winner after Imran Khan opted out on this day. The Padmanabhan schooled Iceglow was the favourite but the public choice after raising hopes at the top of the straight found the winner and the runner-up Southern Fantasy too hot to handle at end. Now that the winner is back to winning ways, Spirit And Truth is poised to add one more in the Mysore season.

In line for a treble, Neil fancied Tangalooma strongly in the Track Lightning Trophy and the favourite in the hands of Suraj Narredu lasted out to score from Harley Quinn. Romantic Helen took the third spot while Saga raced in patches and eventually failed to make the frame.  The grand treble helped Neil gain the second spot ahead of Padmanabhan in the trainers’ tally.  Neil, it must be mentioned has the pads on going into the final two weeks but after Arjun’s match winning knock, he will need to rest content playing second fiddle in what has been an absorbing contest this summer.

John after his winning ride on Yourehandsome packed punch on the Arjun-trained Conquistador to win the upper division of the Nanoli Stud Plate run over a sprint. Fair Game from Amit Caddy’s yard was backed heavily but all the six-year-old mare could do was to finish a tame third behind the winner and the fast finishing runner-up Blues Legend piloted by Arshad Alam.

In line for a treble which would help him join Sandesh at the top, John produced another top drawer effort on the favourite Rakshita in the lower division of the event to snuff out the game challenge of Colour Of Gold in the concluding event.  Precious Glitter who again attempted to make every post a winning one finished third while Time And Space looked spaced out in this event.

The feature event, the Bangalore City Sprint Championship produced a shock result, New Prince chalking out his third victory this season. The `Prince’ from Azhar Ali’s yard is in line to emerge the champion horse of the season, three wins and a third place from four starts against the hat-trick registered by Quaker Ridge who looked good to bag the coveted title before New Prince beat a line of top sprinters in the plum.  What was New Prince doing before he joined Sandhu and later shifted to Azhar is the question most railbirds are asking. Well all I can say is that the Prince was treated as a Pauper, no bow and arrow to hunt.

Prithviraj after losing a couple of big money bags on Desert Gold on Saturday successfully took the First Step to recover, the seven to one shot winning the Meydan Plate in the hands of the pocket dynamite Arshad Alam.  The favourite Bolts Colt finished second ahead of the moody Icepick Willie.

The Nithyanand schooled Happy Hours was touted  one safe bet in the upper division of the Allied Forces Plate run over a sprint and the followers of form went bang-bang in the betting ring investing big on the strongly fancied favourite. Suraj pushed the public choice ahead, the moment the 11 runners came under the starter’s flag and entered the straight with a good two lengths advantage before the Nithyanand ward ran out of gas in the final furlong.  The lesser fancied Only Princess from trainer Dominic’s yard produced a winning gallop in the final furlong to score from Indian Brahmos while Happy Hours ended in a sad story for most big bettors.