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NEGLECTED ONEDERBOY CREATES AFTERSHOCK

By Epsom Ace | 13 Aug 2019 | KOLKATA


Trainer Aashay Doctor leading Onederboy (D S Deora Up), winner of The Independence Cup

The outsider of six runners, 9/1 shot Onederboy from trainer Aashay Doctor’s yard, shocked the field for the Independence Cup at RCTC on Tuesday. The favourite Marbella planted at the start while second favourite After Shock ran a lacklustre race but nevertheless ended up a fair second.  Naidu was seen to struggle atop After Shock in the rear of the field and the three-year-old colt only raised a gallop under the stick, from the distance post.  The race was as good as over by then. Opportunistic jockey Dhanu S Deora had Onderboy travelling behind pace-setters Lumenac and Novikov  till the final furlong where he shot ahead and held on to his lead comfortably. In retrospect it appears that had Topnotch not been scratched from the field, he may well have lifted the cup as he was at the bottom of the scale. Indeed, Tuesday was a story of ifs and buts as form took a beating for most part.

However, two bold gambles did materialise – even if somewhat fortuitously. Manvendra Singh’s Beat The Bank and Vikash Jaiswal’s Dancing Prince were backed down to favouritism. In fact, the wily Jaiswal, who has been under the stipes lens for sometime now, outfoxed them all with a well-planned double comprising demoted runners Dil Mangey More and Dancing Prince. While Dil Mangey More was 8/1 in the books, it was the second favourite in the tote. The three-year-old filly by Samidd out of Bold And Classy was given a confident ride by brother Vinay to land the spoils in the day’s opener – The Mr Darcy Handicap.  Talking about topsy-turvy form – here’s one for the guardians. Happy Returns had finished a good second last time out but ended up second last n this occasion. There was no effort from the rider to position his mount despite a good jump out. He has a tailor-made excuse as Amaranthus rather brazenly and expectedly squeezed the runners drawn on her inside. Thereafter Happy Returns raced backwards while Amaranthus burst her blood vessels. The grapevine had it that Artificial was a ‘good thing’ but Jaiswal decided otherwise.

Jaiswal completed his double with the cleverly placed seven-year-old Dancing Prince in a five-years-old and over race. With a four kg allowance apprentice Sujit Kumar Paswan astride, the gelding by Ace out of Dancing Greens made every post a winning one despite drifting out to the outer rails.Five-year-old Carpe Noctem ran a good race to finish third behind Stellanova.The disappointment in the race was Leopard Creek  who finished a good third last time out. Like his stablemate and ownermate Oakbrook in the Aya Toofan Handicap – he was never in the hunt despite a supposedly top rider being declared atop the duo. Probably Sk Israil would have ridden a better race atop Leopard Creek. Such declarations to confuse punters – is ‘just not cricket’ – but is anyone listening?  It’s high time the stipes put some of the bigger names among professionals under the lens if they want racing to improve at this centre. Incidentally, Neeraj Rawal has still to ride his first winner at this centre after seven racedays and fourteen mounts. 

The filly Beat The Bank (Samidd – Lambency) was backed down to 9/4 in the Immaculate Handicap and won by the skin of his teeth with Mudassar Nazar astride. Gramercy Park outpaced the field and was on a start-to-finish mission which came unstuck in the very last stride. The Maidens race for three-year-olds, The Super Sunrise Plate, saw friendless Louboutin (Air Support – Senora Bella) make every post a winning one with Arshad Alam astride. The Raunak Banerji ward was well prepared and used her handicap advantage to deliver the goods. 

Trainer Vijay Singh’s Arjuna (Pleasantly Perfect-Disarming) was given a clever ride by Hindu Singh to bag the Aya Toofan Handicap run over a mile. He opened up a fairly long lead with his mount and this paid dividends. Though Admiral Hatsu tried to make up the leeway in the straight, the four-year-old held onto his advantage.Jockey Christopher Alford opened his account for the season with a well-planned win astride Arti Doctor-trained Fire Opal (Arazan-Zephyrella) in the day’s final event run over 1800m.