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ENID BLYTON SCORES IMPRESSIVE BACK-TO-BACK VICTORIES

By Mahendra Mallya | 15 Jan 2021 | MUMBAI


Mr S M Ruia & trainer Altamash Ahmed leading Enid Blyton (Neeraj Rawal Up), winner of The Maharaja Sir Pratapsingh Gaekwad Trophy

Enid Blyton (Showcasing – Passing Hour, Equus Stud) scripted her own story and scored her second successive win in the higher class this time, taking her win tally to four from nine career starts. She had signed off on a winning note in the last Mumbai season and that makes it a three-in-row winning streak for the Altamash Ahmed trained mare.

The opponents were low in number but high in quality with Sultan Suleiman being the prime fancy. Jockey Neeraj Rawal stuck by Sultan Suleiman right from the start as Majestic Warrior darted to the front, opening up a sizable lead by the time they hit the turn.

Majestic Warrior had an adequate buffer as they turned in for home, but could not sustain the momentum. Sultan Suleiman caught up with the leader with less than 300m to go, but Enid Blyton arrived with a good burst of speed as well. Sultan Suleiman led only briefly as Enid Blyton was finishing-on very strongly. To the Sultan’s credit, he fought back gallantly trying his best to claw back, but in vain. Enid Blyton held off Sultan Suleiman successfully by a head at the wire and claimed the Maharaja Sir Pratapsingh Gaekwad Trophy.

The Karl Umrigar Trophy had a couple of late withdrawals in Arc De Triomphe and Spinoza and later during the running, Roman veered out alarmingly ending up on the outer railings, thereby taking no effective part in the race. Jockey Sandesh atop Infinite N Beyond instinctively urged his mount just before Roman went out of contention and slipped through the rails passing Supreme Runner and Alaskan Sky to take charge well before the home turn. Infinity N Beyond had amassed a huge lead and entered the straight with the rest struggling to catch up. The Sunderji trained gelding rolled on ahead to pull off a very easy victory by a big margin of six lengths. Supreme Runner followed the winner to take the second spot while Above the Law improved slightly finishing a faraway third.  

Market King (Leitir Mor – Only For Gold, Poonawalla Stud) ruled the turf yet again to bring about his second victory without encountering any worthy challenge. Sky Fall and Red Carnation were at the helm at the turn with Market King ready to pounce on these two. He did so soon on turning for home and sped ahead quickly, galloping at a good pace. He looked the winner past the distance post and duly won by close to two lengths. Princess Annabel moved up to finish a fair second, while Ark Shine improved well too snatching the third spot from Epiphany.  

Rambler (Leitir Mor – Stravella, Poonawalla Stud) fought well to keep his lead all the way to the wire to score his second win this season. The Shahzaan Shah trained gelding moved up along the rails and hit the front on settling down in a tightly packed front bunch. He had a slender lead coming into the straight and was soon challenged by Cellini who was coming threateningly close midway down the straight. Jockey Zeeshan however, rode out his mount and egged Rambler on to stay ahead and clinch victory by a length from Cellini. Tomorrows Dreams was the one to improve well in the straight and finish in the money.

  

 After a promising third finish last time out, trainer SS Shah’s Rays of Sun (Leitir Mor – Mint Approach, Poonawalla Stud) achieved his maiden success on his third start. Rays of Sun showed a lot of courage in the final run-in to the winning post as he was under constant pressure of being squeezed between Marvin and the inner railings. Marvin had led all the way from the start and was forcing his way through stay in the lead. With Chancellor not up to it, the only threat to him was from Rays of Sun who was inching closer through the rails. Jockey NS Parmar astride Rays of Sun took the narrowest of gaps and made a bold bid to topple Marvin. The two jostled and even made contact with one another and it looked a tough ask for Rays of Sun to wriggle through. The colt showed courage and with Parmar equal to the task, ensured that Rays of Sun managed to peg back Marvin to win by a neck. Chancellor finished third a good three lengths away.

Faisal Abbas trained Agrami (Excellent Art – Only For Gold, Poonawalla Stud) showed that she is no pushover by notching up her second career victory after her win on debut almost two years and seven runs back. She obviously has fitness issues, or had them as she has been raced sparingly. Faisal seems to have done a good job with her under the circumstances with the filly doing fairly well in all but one of her eight runs to date.

Belenus led them into the homestretch and soon Powerful Lady started to mark the leader. Agrami, with apprentice Aniket Karande in the saddle, made her run from the wide outside and started picking up speed approaching the distance post. Powerful lady had just got the measure of Belenus when Agrami came swooping down on the duo and sailed ahead to post a convincing victory. Powerful Lady took some time to get going and that cost her dearly and she had to be content with the runner-up berth. Royalty improved a bit to beat Belenus for third place.        

Shapath (Oath – Arythia, Pratap Stud) spoiled the party for favourite Take It Easy, snatching a closely fought victory. For one, Take It Easy was way down the order of running in the initial stages and then had to skirt around horses for which she had to take the turn very wide. Shapath on the other hand was a handy fourth at the turn and jockey PS Chouhan deftly pushed her through the gap to make his way to the front. Take it Easy, despite the troubled passage, began to accelerate and got past them all and even headed the bunch until Shapath poked his neck ahead with a gritty show to steal a win in the final moments. Take it Easy will live to fight another day though. Honourable Eyes nosed out Chezza for place money.

Periwinkle (Dean’s Kitten – Peritomoreno, Sohna Stud) galloped to her maiden victory in the concluding event of the day. Periwinkle was not in the most ideal of positions halfway to the race. She was surrounded by horses in the mid-bunch. This time however, apprentice jockey Nazil showed good skill in shifting out and making room for his filly, coming from the wider outside.

Out in front, Arabian Storm didn’t last long after leading them in and Mikayla’s Pride had just taken charge. While the others were snapping at the tail of the new leader, Nazil produced Periwinkle from the wide outside and the mare accelerated fluently to zip past them all and draw away in the last 100 meters. She won by close to three lengths and looked good to add another before long. Mikayla’s Pride finished second, closely followed by Sachertorte and Arabian Storm.   

Trainer SK Sunderji and jockey A Sandesh scored a double each.