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LINCOLN WINS ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY CUP

By Mahendra Mallya | 25 Nov 2018 | MUMBAI


Mr Vijay B Shirke leading Lincoln (P S Kaviraj Up), winner of The Rotary Club Of Bombay Cup

Trainer Pesi Shroff stole the limelight for the day saddling three impressive winners to surge ahead early in the season. Followers of favourites took a drubbing as only one prime fancy obliged in the seven-race card. However, there were no shockers on the day as general form horses came to the fore. 

Lincoln (Excelebration – Evelyn May, Nanoli Stud) coasted to a fine victory, a much needed one, in the hands of young apprentice Kavraj Singh giving the lad his memorable first win in Mumbai and second career win as well. Lincoln sailed ahead at the start picking up good speed and stretching his lead all the time to enter the straight well ahead of the rest. Perfect Star was in second with Holy Smoke and Timeless close behind. Super Shine planted at the gates losing a distance at the start, making no impact at any stage.

It was Lincoln all the way as Kavraj urged him along all through the long straight, keeping the momentum going until the winning post. Perfect Star did cut the margin down, however was never in the hunt. Holy Smoke ended third. Timeless, unfortunately returned lame and had to be put down on hunaitarian grounds.

A race earlier, Pesi had sent out Costa Brava (Phoenix Tower –Korakorum Splendor, Manjri Stud) produced a scintillating burst to down favourite Excellent with  good measure of comfort. Zanara led them all the way into the straight with Excellent close behind. Costa Brava, who was stalking Excellent all the way loomed large soon on straightening up and zipped ahead of Excellent who had just taken over from Zanara. Costa Brava, with Trevor in the saddle, galloped powerfully to skip away in split-seconds to post a facile win to pick up the Rotary Club of Mumbai Queens necklace Trophy in style. Excellent ran well below par and has some tightening up to do considering he has done well in the past and is one of the bright prospects for the bigger races to come his way. Carbonara ended a faraway third. 

Pesi logged his third winner on the day with Sacred Roman (Holy Roman Emperor – Clicquot, Star Born Stud) battled hard in the closing stages to score a narrow win. Jockey Leigh Roche putting in his best efforts to smother the valiant effort that Bronx put in. Sacred Roman took charge soon on entering the homestretch, getting past early leader Star comrade. Once in the lead, Sacred Roman got going and built a handy lead. Bronx started to warm up and made his bid from the outside, making good progress too. Bushtops, who was at the tail end all the way to the turn, slipped along the inside rails getting right alongside Bronx. Sacred Roman galloped on gamely even as Bronx drew level. This pair fought hard in the final 100 meters and Sacred Roman held on by a whisker in a thrilling finish. Bushtops had all the chances, but just couldn’t quicken to match the top two. 

Joplin (Stern Opinion – Chiquelle, Pratap Racecitement) scored a facile victory to clinch the Rotary club of Hiranandani Trophy quelling the strong bid that came from Chosen One. Huddled in the front bunch, Joplin moved up on tight reins through the bunch to take charge past the 400. Jockey PS Chouhan eased the Cama trained filly into the lead and then gathered momentum to stretch away from the rest. Chosen One started to chase the leader and at one moment even looked like posing a serious threat, but that was not to be as Joplin still had a lot left in her and she stayed ahead all the way to score convincingly. Chosen One ran a good second beating Anniversary Girl by a long margin. 

King Khalil (Multidimensional – Khalila, Usha Stud) pulled off a majestic win on debut with a superlative start to finish attempt. Jockey Yash Narredu drove the Deepesh Narredu trainee to the front and kept a safe distance from the rest as they turned for home. 

Into the straight, King Khalil quickened further and kept the momentum going. Perpetual Winning was going all out, yet making no impact on the leader. Valegro too was getting nowhere as King Khalil proved simply too good on the day as he romped home to make it a memorable debut. Valegro ran on to beat Perpetual Winning to third, while Arrowfield ran a tame fourth.   

Arashi (Rock of Gibraltar – Hoboob, Kunigal Stud) rocked in a keen battle and snatched victory on the last stride terminating Bunting’s good start to finish effort. Bunting had a handy lead past the 400 with Enchanting trying hard to draw level. Arashi, with Roche in the saddle, started to eat up ground briskly and challenge the pair in front. Enchanted fell back as Bunting and Arashi started matching strides. Both went hammer and tongs going all out bouncing away towards the fast approaching winning post. Bottega Louis too started to inch closer to this pair and the finish was building up to a fiery one.  Arashi, trained by Vishal Gaikwad, was up to the task and got that little extra bit to snatch the race from Bunting who took it until the last stride. Arashi won by the narrowest of margins to log his third career win in a humdinger. Bunting was gallant in defeat and was unfortunate to have gone agonizingly close and give it away at the wire. Bottega Louis was certainly catching up and he ended a neck behind the top two in an exciting finish.   

Namaqua (Mayson Darcique, Nanoli Stud) pulled off a flawless start to finish victory on debut galloping fluently all the way right from the start. Favourite Starringo chased the winner all the way home. Namaqua, trained by MK Jadhav and ridden by Sandesh, galloped smoothly and entered the straight with a handy lead. Once in the homestretch, Namaqua quickened well and left nothing to chance as he romped home in style without giving Starringo any chance whatsoever. 

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff was the star of the day with a rich haul of three winners. Jockey Leigh Roche scored a double.