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BANGALORE COLTS' CHAMPIONSHIP STAKES, Gr.1

By Major Srinivas Nargolkar (Retd.) | 29 Jun 2019 | BANGALORE


The trend of unbeaten colts adding this race to their CVs is a bit stronger than in the case fillies. Five colts -- Grosvenor Court, Southern Empire, Sun Kingdom, Serjeant At Arms and Sir Cecil -- have done so this century while there are only four fillies with a similar record. This year's race brings together two unbeaten colts, both sons of Air Support. Both are winners of three races each as was Sir Cecil last year going into this race.

Air Support (Smart Strike - Gaze), a winner of five races in U.S.A. including the Virginia Derby, Gr.2 and Bowling Green Stakes Gr.2 -- both over 2000 m. -- arrived at Kunigal and  commenced covering in 2014. He was launched with a book of 63 mares. He had 45 live foals in his first crop, 34 of them started and his ten winners placed him third on the Freshman Sires' Table behind Net Whizz and Tazahum.  Catalonia (Forbes Breeders' Juvenile Fillies' Championship, Gr.3) and Areca Legend (third in Godolphin Barb Stakes, Gr.3) were his best runners. It was a moderate record and he didn't set the Kaveri on fire with his first crop. Two unbeaten colts -- War Hammer and Impavid -- from his second have given the stallion a tremendous boost and they will be the cynosure of all eyes on Sunday. A dominant bay, some of his progeny have a colour coat much darker than his own. War Hammer and Impavid are both dark bays as is Catalonia.

War Hammer (Air Support - Soviet Lake), trained by Prasanna Kumar, has record similar to that of Sir Cecil at this stage. Both won their maidens early as 3YOs and followed up with Bangalore Juvenile Million, Gr.3 in the winter season and Karnataka Juvenile Million, Gr.3 in the summer. The last named race has been particularly significant as a pointer to Summer Classics but also future Winter Classics. War Hammer has won all his races at 1400 m. and won them impressively though not as spectacularly as Sir Cecil. He settles easily at the back of the field early on, shows a good turn of foot to come into the fighting line around 200 m. and has won his races without fuss. Coming from behind is a style of racing and does not, by itself, proclaim a stayer. Two dual Sprinters' Cup, Gr.1 winners, Nefyn and Ruffina, always came from behind but were pure sprinters.

Soviet Lake, the dam of War Hammer, was a winner of five races, all up to 1200 m.  Seven out of her nine foals are winners of  32 races but not a single one of those is beyond 1400 m. War Hammer's three-parts brother Saint Petersburg has also won only up to 1400 m. Of course, none of War Hammer's near relatives had the class of War Hammer for there was no black-type winner among them whereas he himself has won two. On his class alone -- and stamina further back in the dam line -- War Hammer ought to tackle the trip.  His run on Sunday will throw greater light on his prospects beyond a mile. His trainer is a relatively new professional who has saddled a Classic winner in New Alliance and almost won the Pune Derby, Gr.1 with Knotty Ash.

Impavid (out of Polenta), like War Hammer, is a winner of three races but has no black-type. On the other hand, he has two course and distance victories and on his last start successfully competed against older horses in a Class II event. Impavid has a better toe than War Hammer, races just behind the early pace and then makes his move. The Darley mare Polenta, in foal to King's Best, was acquired by Kunigal Stud for 42,000 euros at Goff's November Sale in 2006. Her five foals to race in India are all winners with Captain Cook (Calcutta Monsoon Derby, Gr.2) being the best of them. Polenta traces to Queen's Statute and this is a relatively young international family. There are only a handful of representatives of this family in India which boasts of the Epsom Derby winner Lammtarra as its undoubted star. The Mirzas of Kehelan Stud were, probably, the first to recognise the potential of this family for they imported a mare called Icy Subject in 1980s. Icy Subject did well for them producing eight winners of 35 races. After Mr. Zeyn Mirza assumed the reins of URBB Ltd., he lost no time in acquiring Polenta for the Kunigal Stud. Impavid is trained by Arjun Mangalorkar who has now been around for about two decades and every now and then comes up with a Classic winner. He has so far been ridden only by Sandesh.

The match between War Hammer and Impavid should whet the appetite of those who root for the underdog. Both the adversaries have only modest connections -- owners, trainer and pedigree -- but have broken away from their vaunted contemporaries to command all attention. The Handicapper rates Prasanna Kumar's ward five points higher than Impavid. A line through Sir Supremo gives War Hammer a greater edge but that is winter form. Both of them have worked regularly since their last starts and their track work shows them to be in fine fettle. There is no single factor that gives one a significant advantage over the other and this is where the subjective personal preference comes into play.

On his last start, Impavid, who was getting one kg., finished four lengths ahead of Exclusive Blue (Ravel - Blue Sonata). On the same day, War Hammer got the better of Mystic Bay (Leitir Mor - Memory Bay),  Trafalgar (Western Aristocrat - Bluegrass Phenom) and Malwa (Whatsthescript - One Punch) in another race. Last Sunday, Thailand did reverse earlier form with Anjeze but it is not something which happens often. Exclusive Blue is Hyderabad-based which is not surprising since his half-brothers Kohinoor Wish and Always Bullish did well at Malakpet, After winning his maiden on the home turf, Exclusive Blue was taken to Chennai where he finished second to Royal Currency in the Guindy Grand Prix, Gr.3. Royal Currency has subsequently won the Nilgiris Derby, Gr.1.

The Western India challenger Mystic Bay had every chance to win the Karnataka Juvenile Million, Gr.3 on his last start but was found wanting. It is possible that he was just having a rehearsal for Sunday's race. Three of his four siblings have raced and two have won a race each. That is not very encouraging, but, he is well bred, his dam being an unraced full-sister to Mystical and has Divine Light as his third dam just like Well Connected. His trainer Malesh Narredu has saddled Be Safe to win this race. Trafalgar comes from Calcutta where he won both his races, a maiden and the Grand Annual Mile. He is bred very much on the lines of Hazara Stud stallions, full-brothers Rebuttal and Net Whizz. They were by Mr. Greeley out of Reboot whereas Trafalgar is by a son of Mr. Greeley out of a daughter of Reboot. He did not get a clear run at a vital stage on his last start and the extra furlong will be to his advantage.    

The mare Margarita Rita, purchased for 35,000 euros at Goff's in foal to Hold That Tiger, came to Usha Stud in 2008. That 'got-abroad' foal was purchased by Zeyn Mirza for URBB, named Scarlet Pimpernel and trained by Pesi Shroff he won four races. Margarita Rita, a winner of two races abroad over 1200 m., has had  six foals since then -- one by Razeen and the rest by Multidimensional -- who have won 10 races between them, all at 1400 m. or less though full-sisters Heaven Is Here and Eyes For You placed in the Oaks at Bangalore and Mumbai respectively. Shroff did not buy any of those six foals but picked up Wizard of Stocks (by first season stallion Speaking of Which) an appropriate name for a colt running in the colours of Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwalla. Wizard of Stocks came out of the maidens on the same day as Impavid and War Hammer with a course and distance victory and created a bit of history by becoming the first of the immediate family to win over a mile. He won stylishly and may go on to better things but has a tough job here. Though the Catalogue page of Margarita Rita is modest at best, Wizard of Stocks is from the same family as Elusive Pimpernel. Shroff is yet to win a Classic in Bangalore with a colt.  

A horse rated below the average field rating -- like Wizard of Stocks -- finds it hard to win a race of this nature. Young horses are rarely worked with older horses and seldom with proven older horses. Wizard of Stocks did his final preparatory work with Costa Brava. Make what you will with that oddity.

Champion Sire Excellent Art had such a small third crop that you can count its members on fingers of one hand. One of them, out of the Sprinters' Cup, Gr.1 winner Shamaal, is Lightning Bolt. That makes him a half-brother to Field Marshal. Like Impavid and War Hammer, he is unbeaten having won his only start at he beginning of June. His racing record is exactly like that of Well Connected. The other similarity with the filly is that like her he was bred at Poonawalla Farms and Mr. Zavaray Poonawalla has an ownership interest in both,  

It is a smallish field with an average rating of 55.25. In terms of quality, it is the fourth best in the last decade There are three unbeaten colts and two course and distance winners. Six favourites and three highest rated runners have scored in last ten years. At this time of the year, there is always the chance of rain and the consequent soft going. That is an important consideration which needs to be factored in.

Sandesh and Impavid continue their highly successful association while Malwa will again be ridden by P.S. Chouhan. There is musical chairs among the jockeys on the other six runners each of whom will have a different rider on Sunday.  Sandesh and Suraj Narredu are the only jockeys with a previous win in this race, the former having piloted Alaindair (2013) and Serjeant At Arms (2016) and the latter being astride Sun Kingdom (2010) and Be Safe (2014).  Previously successful trainers are L.V.R. Deshmukh (Machiavellianism, 2012), Malesh Narredu (Be Safe, 2014) and S.S. Attaolahi (Serjeant At Arms, 2016).

PAST THE POST

This has no bearing on Sunday's race but may interest a few who are into pedigrees. War Hammer traces back to OUR LIZ through Aurelie, a mare that was part of the fabulous Kashmir Collection in 1950s. While most princes had strong connections with England, the Maharaja of Kashmir was more at home in Paris. There, he struck up a close friendship with the American diplomat R.B. Strassburger. Strassburger was a leading breeder in France, well versed in pedigrees and had his own breeding theories. Kashmir owned a few mares in partnership with Strassburger and some of them eventually made their way to India.

Immediately after the Independence, import of mares dried up and it gave an opportunity to several Indian families to come to the fore. Aurelie was one of them, being the dam of Indian Derby winner Rocklie. Several good horses -- like Bakhtawar, Nectar Queen, Nine Carat (third dam of War Hammer), Classic Story, Classic Style and Bonzer, to name just few -- in India descend from Aurelie. No breeder in India valued the Indian families more than the late "Sonny" Brar of Dashmesh and he was particularly fond of the Aurelie line. So much so that he virtually snapped up every mare descending from her. When the imports opened up, most Indian families found it hard to keep pace with the newer strains and regressed. It has been a while since the Aurelie family has had a genuine Classic contender.