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PRITHVIRAJ, ARSHAD SHARE PROFESSIONAL HONOURS

By Ikram Khan | 16 Dec 2016 | BANGALORE


It was good to see trainer Prithviraj record a popular double on Friday. After a long, long time, Good Fruit made it to the winners’ circle and Serena Ballerina who was one of the most talented maidens in the campus finally broke the ice after changing her name.

Pitted against mediocre rivals in the Kudremukh Plate, the top weighted Pearl City was touted a`moral certainty’ and was offered at miserly odds, half-money quoted by bookmakers sitting outside, thanks to the managing committee of the Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) who are working to keep them out despite the fact that the club will lose 15 crore a year from the revenue generated from the bookies and the government too will lose an identical sum.

Leading pro Suraj Narredu was in no spot of bother guiding the public rage and the moment he alerted her, Pearl City zoomed past Beyond Reach and without unduly extending herself justified the short-priced quoted on her. The moody Flirting Eyes finished a tame third ahead of Perfect Prince.

Arshad Alam astride Good Fruit needed to stretch every sinew to power the Prithviraj ward past Breaking Away in the upper division of the Vidurashwatha Plate run over a sprint. The Amit Caddy schooled Breaking Away piloted by Ramu had stolen a march past the distance post and looked good to score before Arshad Alam pulled out all stops on the public choice and at the end it turned out to be one good fruit for the punters.

Arshad Alam in fact repeated the act on the Satish Narredu-trained Icepick Willie in the lower division. Hopelessly placed when Better Than Ever and Goat were vying for supremacy in the final furlong, Arshad in a never-say-die bid packed punch on Icepick Willie and the Satish ward to the delight of his supporters  produced a winning gallop to edge out Better Than Ever close home. Goat finished a good third despite Pradeep failing to pack punch while Rock N Rolla lost out simply because Raja Rao was unequal to the task in the final dash home. Goat impressed most and will be hard to down in his next start provided his connections choose to place a better pilot.

The eight to one shot Fabulous Touch shocked all including her trainer S Ganapathy, producing an astounding gallop in the hands of Pradeep Chouhan to win the RCTC Cup, the plum event run over a sprint.

The Darius Byramji-trained Fjord on the strength of her brilliant performances in the morning trials and the Arjun Manglorkar schooled Antananarivo who had finished behind the 2000 Guineas runner-up Captain Morgan on the second day of the season were fancied most but both the market leaders failed to measure up to the rating. Lesser fancied Tzar, a facile last start winner streaked ahead and gained control when the race came on the boil and even before his supporters started to cheer him on, Chouhan and Fabulous Touch stormed through to put the issue beyond doubt. It was a real shocker considering the fact that the winner in her last essay in Mysore had finished way down the field in one of the premier events.

The French saddle artiste Cedric Segeon chalked out his fifth win of the season on the well supported Hector in the Shravanabelagola Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. After the Lokanath-trained Topaz hit the front and started to pose like a winner, Cedric alerted Hector and the Neil ward slowly, yet surely bridged the gap before romping home a deserving winner. I’ve Got Clout finished third while Tuscano took the fourth spot.

The Arjun Manglorkar-trained in-form Pallas recorded his second straight victory winning the Nethravathi Trophy in style. The winner is on top of his game and is set to complete a hat-trick of wins when saddled next. Torch Bearer did well to gain the runner-up berth in the hands of Indrajeeth and it will not be long before he earns his cornbill in the hands of David Allan.

The well backed Autocratic from the stables of Suleiman Attaollahi made a winning debut in the hands of Trevor Patel in the December Plate. The good looking son of Burden Of Proof from the Kunigal Stud Farm was fancied strongly by his connections and he justified their support comfortably snuffing out the challenge of Turf Star who again finished second. Lord Buckingham from Warren Singh’s yard caught the finishing on fastest at end to take the third spot ahead of Castanea while Olympia Fields who had impressed most in the track trials raced in patches and is likely to benefit from this run.

The opening event, the Kakanakote Plate stunned the followers of form, rankoutsider Karod Pati from Samar Singh’s yard snuffing out the challenge of Only Prince to retire home a convincing winner. Karod Pati, it appears is in good nick and it will come as no surprise if he provide an encore.