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HIMALAYAN QUEEN LEADS A STRING OF UPSETS

By Epsom Ace | 09 Nov 2016 | KOLKATA


Mr E Piperno & trainer Bath leading Himalayan Queen (J Chinoy Up), winner of The Hilliard Cup

Coming in the wake of the country’s demonetisation of the larger currency notes, there was indeed an air of uncertainty about the races being conducted here on Wednesday. However, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club did rather well to go ahead with the scheduled afternoon card and keep the totalisator counters open. Notes of smaller denomination were being used on both sides of the counter, and though the pools were notably smaller, the important thing is that the sport was not hindered. Quite understandably, the bookmakers took the day off as it would have been quite impractical for them to function in such a scenario.

While three second favourites obliged in a card of seven races, the other four events were bagged by unfancied runners on Wednesday. In the second race of the afternoon, apprentice Akaash Rajput suffered a nasty fall from Running Hand and was replaced by other jockeys on all his subsequent mounts. Western India jockey Dashrath Singh failed to show up and all his mounts saw other riders doing duty.

The main event, The Hilliard Cup,  turned out to be quite a humdinger with fancied runners taking a backseat as Joy Chinoy brought Bath-trained Himalayan Queen (Captain Rio-Maid of Artois) with raking strides in the straight to snatch victory from Acrider close home. The public choice Setaflame had all the chances but fizzled out in the straight.

Young apprentice Nikhil Naidu displayed the right attitude as he notched up a brace with Star Route and No Politics Please.  Along with P Tejeshwar, he has made the most of the opportunity offered to them by the RCTC apprentice school for jockeys. Vijay Singh-trained Star Route (Stardan -  Adorila/ Rolli Stud) displayed remarkable sprinting ability when she responded well to Naidu’s urging in the straight and collared front-running Rani Thea without much trouble. The favourite Ashi Nangsey never showed much promise and finished in the ruck.

Naidu then went onto complete the double with seven-year-old No Politics Please (Sharp Attack-Secret Wish/ Gee Stud) in the race for The Rajcoomar Gujadhur Memorial Cup. He had ridden the Jaiswal ward to victory on the last day of the monsoon meet and despite the 6kg penalty, the speedster went on to provide Naidu with another victory in a similar start-to-finish manner. In this race, one of the fancied runners, Shining Melody (a mount of injured apprentice Aakash Rajput), was withdrawn.

Jockey Christopher Alford too enjoyed a fairly good day at the office as he booted home the pair of Rabda and Ballister. While Bharath Singh-trained Rabda (Ravel-Ekta Ekta Ekta) recorded a fairly straightforward victory in the opening race of the day Ballister’s victory was what edge-of-the seat thrillers are made of. In the Obligado Handicap, Rabda moved well along the rails to get the better of well prepared I Me N Myself – yet another Naidu mount. Fund Raiser fizzled out after a show of early speed.

In the very next race, The Vibrant Handicap, Alford rode an absolute blinding finish to get the better of Zephir at the wire. The fashionably bred colt by Chevalier out of Ballibay initially made his move along the rails but was hampered for sufficient room as the gap closed.  He switched his mount to the outside and won by the proverbial whisker in the very last stride. In this race, front-running Running Hand suffered a fall about 50 metres from home and promising apprentice Aakash Rajput  was injured and moved to a city nursing home. He has been advised rest for a week.

The Allied Forces Handicap proved to be disastrous for punters as the fancied trio of Nashville Tennessee, My Lady Luck and Avilome Vilome all took a backseat. It was Shafiq Khan-trained Thunder On (Arabian Gulf-Monadeema/ Manjri Stud) with apprentice Hindu Singh astride who landed the spoils after tracking Nashville Tennessee till the straight and drawing away from the field.

This was the second time in succession that Aakash Rajput had been replaced atop My Lady Luck by a sub-standard rider who is not even an apprentice. The punters paid the price once again for the folly of the connections – intentional or otherwise. The filly was given a horrendous ride by the replacement. It seems the upholders of the law are turning a blind eye to such substitutions for reasons best known to them. It’s high time they woke up and stuck to the norms of the game by permitting substitutions of near-equal merit only. If no such rider is available, then the runner should be withdrawn, so that punters don’t burn their fingers for no fault of theirs. The authorities should realise that ‘fairplay’ is important in this game, since the dice is heavily loaded against the punters in any case.

After No Politics Please and Himalayan Queen, Javed Khan-trained Oath Of Allegiance was the third horse in the day who registered back-to-back successes. With Nirmail Jodha to guide, The filly by Oath out of Berkeley Lodge (Pratap Stud) quite easily accounted for favourite Half Volley in the afternoon’s final event.