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Elmwood staves off Native Strategy for an encore

By True Blue | 23 Apr 2007 | MUMBAI


Star Always (C.Rajendra up) winning the Amazing Bay Trophy

The four-year-old gelding Elmwood (Glory of Dancer–Baloustar) kept his consistency intact and easily shouldered the penalty received for his previous success when he went on to lift the Ghazab Trophy on Saturday. The in-form apprentice C. S. Jodha stirred the Bezan Chenoy trainee into action when entering the home stretch and stole a march over his rivals headed by favourite Escravos at that stage. Christopher Alford pulled out Native Strategy in the last two furlongs after racing close to the inner rails but Elmwood refused to buckle under the pressure exerted by his adversary and staved him off deftly in the final stages. The K. P. G. Appu ridden Escravos appeared to have forgotten his galloping shoes at home as he succumbed far too easily and meekly when the crunch situation arrived. Appu, ironically, sported the colours of Elmwood’s joint-owner to victory astride Silent Presence (Greensmith–Menorah) in the very next race. Bezan’s ward made a winning appearance mid-way during this season but failed twice subsequently when asked to carry the top-weight. Silent Presence enjoyed the handicap advantage over both Cosmopolitan and Alamshaara, the two highly-fancied runners in the race, and made good use of this factor as he unleashed a powerful run in the straight. Silent Presence was full of running when given his head by Appu and he simply steamrolled his opponents on his way to victory. Cosmopolitan tried his usual start-to-finish tactics which failed abruptly when Silent Presence arrived with a bang on the scene. Alamshaara, who was fractious at the gates and was very nearly withdrawn from the fray, raised hopes momentarily which vanished as quickly as they had appeared when the winner launched his assault. Jockey C. Rajendra was earlier associated with the Altaf Hussain saddled Gold Biscuit but he too met the same fate as Alamshaara. Nina Lalvani’s candidate Flo Nightingale came very close to earning a record third win with a short span of three weeks but her gallant attempt was foiled by the rank outsider Magical Music (Mischevious Music–Satin Lover). Magical Music was sent out on this occasion by her new master Narendra Lagad who might have been pleasantly surprised by the filly’s success. Amyn Merchant rode Magical Music well off the pace and brought her into contention only at the last bend. Flo Nightingale after frustrating Gold Biscuit remained defiant till the end but Magical Music’s last surge deprived her of a glorious win. Rajendra’s solitary success of the day came aboard Star Always (Senure–Lone Star), who won the Amazing Bay Trophy without causing any anxious moments to her supporters. The Altaf Hussain schooled on-money favourite led all the way from the word go and pulled away from the pack as her destination neared. Stud of Gold made gradual progress to end runner-up ahead of the labouring Sharp Memory and the late-finishing Mehroonissa, who was languishing at the tail end of the field for most of the journey. Queen of Hearts ran disappointingly after being prominent in the running till turning for home. Holiday Date (Concordial–Sparkling Cyanide) was indeed a revelation on his fourth visit to the racetrack this season. Saddled by the veteran Saeed Shah and enthusiastically backed by those in the know, Holiday Date got off to a flying start and ran like a scalded cat thereafter. The rest of the runners including Teaser and favourite Golden Fort were left no choice but to chase the shadows of the Neeraj Rawal ridden winner. Medtias Pride (Case Law–Simple Honey) from Magansingh Jodha’s string also earned his maiden success after adopting pillar-to-post tactics. But the winner was required to be hard-ridden by Pramod Belose when Habit threw his gauntlet at him. There was no let up in the dismal show of Silver Girl and the Imtiaz Sait nursed filly eventually ran a tame third. The dickey-legged Vision Remains (Tirol–Hanovera) gave a speedy display to provide Amjad Khan with some success. C. S. Jodha seized the initiative with the bay mare at the start and survived the grim challenge posed initially by The Rebel and then Stubbs towards the fag end.