Kildare seemed to have a task on hand when he lined up for the Republic Cup squaring up to take on the classy gelding Iron Age. Kildare himself was evidently in top form with a couple of impressive wins under his belt, hence shared a good number of supporters as well. But none would have reckoned Kildare would decimate the opposition in the manner he did. The Sunderji trained gelding is in the form of his life and is getting stronger by the run. The uncertainty of races comes to the fore not with Kildare’s win but the fact that Iron Age finished last and nearly twenty lengths from the winner!  The other three in the fray never got within sniffing distance of Kildare and followed him home in a glib manner akin to individuals returning home after a hard day’s work, with Flying Visit doing so as buddies would pair up. 

Kildare (Leitir Mor – Awarding, Poonawalla Stud) dared to match strides with Iron Age right from the start, looking like a horse-on-a-mission, gelding rather. They stuck together from the start until the turn. Once into the straight, Kildare looked good when he surged ahead of Iron Age and the senior pro looked pale in front of the rising champion. Kildare simply sped ahead leaving the rest cold. He stretched away sweetly with a crack or two, which I reckon was not necessary as he compiled a facile victory by a margin close to four lengths. Iron Age didn’t look in any distress; hence this mauling he took is intriguing, more so considering he finished last - a good 19 lengths behind Kildare! That margin is too much to even dismiss it as one bad day at office for Iron Age particularly because he had won so well after the layoff. Some posers are more difficult to unravel than to even fathom. 

Kildare was most impressive and won the Republic Cup, the feature event, without dropping sweat and looks in line for the horse of the season award. 

Another thoroughbred who too brought up his third win in a row was Dallas Todywalla trained Hidden Gold (Leitir Mor – Coccinella, Poonawalla Stud). Progressing well on the Pune track, Hidden Gold compiled a clinical start-to-finish victory, holding off a late challenge from Golden Guest and Revelator. 

Hidden Gold entered the straight with Headway struggling to keep up. Soon Golden Guest moved ahead gearing up to chase down the leader. Revelator came into the picture soon enough and Hidden Gold was put under pressure with this dual challenge building up. Jockey P Trevor battled on riding Hidden Gold vigorously all the way to carve out a narrow victory with both Golden Guest and Revelator breathing down his neck. 

Trevor had completed a hattrick with Hidden Gold having one the first race of the day partnering Sunderji’s Live By Night (Arazan – Isn’t She Special, Poonawalla Stud). Live By Night forced his way up after White River led them into the homestretch. Trevor had to urge the gelding and even crack the whip a couple of times to get him going. White River fought hard to keep his stablemate at bay, but he could not keep up the pressure as Live By Night produced that extra bit in the final furlong to eventually kick away from White River and win by a comfortable two-length margin. Evangelist had to work hard to take the place stakes and although she was clear of the rest, she could not get past White River. 

Trevor then piloted Cellini (Arazan – Yomalo, Poonawalla Stud) to a fluent victory, outpacing his rivals by a good measure. Cellini was off to a quick start and led the field from early on, going at a good clip on tight reins. Once in the straight, Trevor didn’t have to work at all as the Bezan Chenoy trained gelding looked self-assured and galloped fluently all the way without encountering any threat. He piled up a huge winning margin of nine lengths without stepping on it at any stage, in fact, easing up in the final few strides. Dumas followed the winner home, While Jetfire squeezed in to take the third spot. 

Sunrise Ruby Whatsthescript – Venus Arising, Nanoli Stud) finally broke free of her string of runner-up positions and notched up the elusive victory. She chased the leader Guarnerious all the way into the homestretch and surged past effortlessly to take charge. Sunrise Ruby looked the winner the way she was travelling and sure enough accelerated well to stretch further ahead of the rest. Dreams improved in the straight but made no impact as Sunrise Ruby had kicked away to win by over three lengths. Dreams had to be content with the runner-up berth. 

Trainer Pesi Shroff had two runners in the upper division of the Radical Force Plate and both occupied the top two positions, only the lesser fancied Arcadia (Kingda Ka – Shane, Nanoli Stud) got the better of the favourite North Star. 

Arcadia was right up with the leader Lion King all the way until the turn and jockey Mosin got going on her even as they turned for home. That early hustle to the front probably was a master move by the jockey, as it came in handy at the all-important end. North Star inched his way closer in the homestretch and by the time he warmed up it was too late. North Star did cover good ground in the final furlong, but with Arcadia having a couple of lengths as cushion made the task even more difficult for North Star who fell short by half a length. Black Cherry improved to finish in the money. 

Narendra Lagad trained Red Merlot (Surfrider – Mateus Rose, Ruia Stud) improved over his debut third and put in a strong finish to pip overwhelming favourite Multiencrypted close home. The favourite was on a start to finish mission with Red Merlot and Thundering Spirit racing close behind until the turn. Multiencrypted shaped well entering the straight, but Red Merlot started to wear him down steadily. Jockey Dasrath Singh urged Red Merlot on and the gelding started to inch closer to Multiencrypted with every stride. In the latter’s defence, Multiencrypted fought all the way to the wire. However, Red Merlot finished on better to win by a head. Ginsberg improved in the straight to take the third spot, rallying from the last position. 

Ame (Diffident – Premier Connection, Poonawalla Stud) produced a pleasing stretch-run to take his win tally to five after showing consistency in his last three previous runs this season. Jockey NS Parmar had Ame in the front bunch as Collosseum led them into the straight. Ame had to work his way up and took a stride or two to get the momentum going; at nine years of age, this was understandable. However, he quickly surged ahead and then showed the youngsters how to accelerate and advance unhindered to boot home the advantage and seal a clinical victory. Nusrat finished second more than two lengths behind Ame, while Brave just about got the third spot. Stars For You almost snatched the third spot while finishing an eye-catching fourth.

Beemer (Leitir Mor – Black Magic Woman, Poonawalla Stud) pulled off a well-fought victory in the concluding race of the day. When Dilbar settled to lead the field Beemer was not even close to the heavily crowded front-bunch, nor was debutante Tanhaiyaan for that matter. 

Dilbar entered the straight but could not find much and stepped back as Thunderclap took charge approaching the distance post. While Tanhaiyaan had to skirt wide for a clear run, jockey Sandesh manoeuvred his way through cleverly and got to Thunderclap who was shaping well. Beemer shocked Thunderclap as he headed him with under a t100 meters to go. Beemer had the momentum going and he charged towards the winning post. Tanhaiyaan arrived with a big run and covered a lot of ground too, but the winning post came to the rescue of Beemer who clung on to score by ¾ lengths from Tanhaiyaan and Thunderclap. Tanhaiyaan is the one to note and should get his maiden success soon, perhaps on his next outing. 

For the professionals, Jockey P Trevor scored a fine hattrick, while trainers Dallas Todywalla, SK Sunderji and jockey A Sandesh scored a double each.