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Sweeping Success of Colm O’Donoghue

By North-End | 09 Dec 2007 | MUMBAI


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Dr. MAM Ramaswamy’s bay filly Sweeping Success fought back gallantly to snatch the Johnnie Walker Black Label Indian 1000 Guineas from Astraea in a thrilling finish. Colm O'Donoghue eked out that little extra from the daughter of Placerville – Lady Moura, who bravely responded and wrested the race from the vastly improved Astraea (Alnasr Alwasheek – Priceless Asset) right in front of the Grand Stands. Supreme Discovery set the early pace, followed closely by Star Of China. Sweeping Success was up next, Alvarita in mid bunch with Astraea. The rest were all close behind. In the straight, Sweeping Success had barely gone past the leaders when Astraea (C. Rajendra) came up strongly and took over. Alvarita went for the rails but couldn't reproduce her best finish even as she ended third. Oasis Star (YS Srinath) ran from a long way back to finish a good fourth. The final furlong and a half saw a grim battle between Sweeping Success and Astraea. The latter held the upper hand for the most part and the two sped further ahead of Alvarita. Just when it looked like the Shroff ward had done the trick, Sweeping Success came up with that something extra and raced away to win by half length. Among the beaten brigade, Peninsula finished on well and just missed out a place in the frame. Gobelin clearly needed the run and may have found this trip a little sharp. She was warming up and ran on well to improve her final standing from the last position in the straight. The first race saw hectic activity in the ring with all the four runners finding support in the betting. On the track, World War Three (Samuel Fargeat) was on the final leg of her start to finish mission; Dreaming (Ruzaan) who kept her company right through had no answer as Taanush (Daniel Grant) burst on to the scene and Romantic Scene (M.Narredu) close with them. World War Three was challenged by Taanush mid way up the straight and after a brief battle, Taanush went on to win comfortably. Lil Miss Sunshine (Rajendra) was expected to make a winning debut and was the first favourite. Queen's Guest (Colm O'Donoghue) had other ideas. Sitting a close third behind Lil Miss Sunshine and Grand Stand, Queen's Guest was handy in the straight and simply tore away from the favourite. The only challenge came from Excellent Story (Samuel Fargeat) who easily accounted for Lil Miss Sunshine but found Queen's Guest just too good on the day. Both Queen's Guest and Excellent Story were impressive. Counselofthegods (M.Narredu) led the field home and when asked to quicken didn't have enough to stand up to the charge of Rehanullah Khan's River Dancer (Daniel Grant). Trainer Rehan was pretty confident of getting the measure of the more fancied Counselofthegods, and was heard citing race no 165 of the Pune meeting where River Dancer had clearly passed and finished ahead of Counselofthegods. His confidence unfolded into a prophecy and a delighted Khan had that 'I-told-you-so' grin as he led in his winner. The Baileys Irish Cream Trophy saw a keen finish with Athena (Nadeem Khan) putting in a sustained run to emerge from the last position at the bend to peg back Toofan Mail (R. Shelar) on the post. Rave On hit the front and was soon joined by Toofan Mail. Te Quiero (Pradeep) was third with Ring Bearer on her outside. In the straight, Toofan Mail stretched ahead and had got the measure of his challenger Ring Bearer. Rave On was fighting hard but getting nowhere. Athena meanwhile started to warm up and timed her bid to a nicety. Athena just got Toofan Mail on the post. Jockey J. Pradeep was found guilty of foul riding as he caused interference to Ring Bearer at the start. Consequently, Pradeep was suspended for a period of two months for the offence. The Seth Ramnath Daga Trophy saw the closet finish of the day. Dancing Diva (Dashrath Singh) made every post a winning one but the all important Winning post. Leading the field all the way, Dancing Diva managed to shake off a tightly packed bunch and accelerated to open a sizable lead past the distance post. It seemed for a while that Dancing Diva would hold on, but Shyboy produced a deadly finish and just about managed to pip Dancing Diva on the post by the proverbial whisker. Samarkhand moved well on the rails to end ¾ l shy of the two and Desert Conqueror was a close fourth. Schubert ran on the outside to finish in the front bunch just ahead of Rococo. Schubert's effort was noteworthy and Rococo also needs to be watched next time out. The Johnnie Walker Red Label Trophy was won by Tantrik (Pradeep) who this time scored in a more conventional manner than the last time when had run away by a street to hold on in the 7-furlong trip. Pacemaker (Satish Nayak) led them into the straight and Tantrik started to apply pressure nearing the distance post. Pacemaker was not giving up easily and the duo fought stride for stride with Mazan (Shailesh Shinde) close on the heels. With 50 metres to go, Tantrik pushed forward and clinched the issue. Pacemaker had to be content with the second spot and Mazan ended a good third. Mazan will improve from this run. Earl Of Warwick hurt himself on the way to the gates and was found unfit to race by the Club's vet and had to be withdrawn. Imperium (YS Srinath) and Miles And More (Samuel Fargeat) were the prime contenders and the latter showed his staying prowess in no uncertain measures. Settling in the fourth spot all along, Miles And More came to the fore about 400 m from home and cruised past Top Action and Absolut with ease and kept increasing the margin giving no chance whatsoever to any of the others. Imperium was hard ridden and got past the rest to end a faraway second. Absolut ran on third and Benfica improved to finish fourth. Miles And More won very well and has it in him to do well the next time out as well. Imperium though could not impress in this race should improve. After having fought briefly and finishing within 2 l of Raquel and Yana on the opening day over 7 furlongs, Present Glory was taken to win in this bunch. The even-money favourite, however, disappointed. Prominent enough to make his bid in the straight, Present Glory just didn’t raise a gallop. Stud Of Gold moved well on the rails to take charge at 400 m from Sharp Memory and sped away to establish a useful lead. With the favourite out of the picture, the challenge came from Blazing Arrow who may have gone on to win had the Jockey Harish not dropped his whip at crucial juncture even as Blazing Arrow was responding to the reminders. It would be a contentious issue whether the loss of whip was accidental but it proved fatal for Blazing Arrow. That's not taking anything away from Stud Of Gold (Rajendra), who was in charge for the most part of the home stretch. However, Blazing Arrow did give very anxious moments in the last few strides.