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ALICIA WINS NILGIRIS DERBY STAKES (GR1)

By Mahendra Mallya | 19 Sep 2021 | OOTY


Trainer P Shroff leading Alicia (P S Chouhan Up), winner of The Coromandel Gromor Nilgiris Derby Stakes (Gr.1)

Pesi Shroff trained filly Alicia (Western Aristocrat – Heather, Nanoli stud) registered her maiden victory and chose the Coromandel Gromor Nilgiris Derby Stakes (Gr1) to do so and this was her third start. Alicia, who had started her career in early August at Hyderabad running second to Knotty Dancer and then ran second to stablemate Miracle in the Deccan Fillies’ Stakes (Gr3) at the same venue, had shown sparks of her class in both her runs. She finally came into her own against a quality set of three-year-olds to win the Derby in style showing considerable improvement over her previous runs and also temperament that such mega races demand. 

It was a crowded bunch of nine that raced huddled together right from the start. Knotty Dancer was in the lead, about a length ahead of Siege Perilous, All Attractive and Imperial blue. Alicia raced on the tail of the front bunch with Akido on her outside. Not far behind were Chashni and Mitsuro, while the fancied Cool Rider was a tad slow off the blokes and was at the tail end of the field. 

Knotty Dancer led them into the straight with a slender lead as All Attractive was breathing down his neck. Siege Perilous too stuck by them even as Alicia moved outward to throw in her challenge. Imperial Blue wasn’t getting anywhere, while Cool Rider and Chashni were making headway. 

Once Alicia opened the throttle, she looked the winner as she devoured ground at a brisk rate to surge past All Attractive and Knotty Dancer. Alicia grew stronger in the final furlong and was comfortably ahead, approaching the winning post. Jockey PS Chouhan ensured that he kept Alicia going all the way and they won by about two lengths to spare. All Attractive fought all the way and returned a good second getting Knotty Dancer on the post by a head; Siege Perilous too finished alongside the runner-up and the third placed Knotty Dancer, which augurs well for his future assignments. 

Another super filly Born Queen (Tazahum – State Secret) trained by Satish Narredu, romped home in style to bounce back to winning ways. Born Queen had swept the South India Classics last season, winning the 1000 Guineas (Gr2), the Oaks (Gr1) and the Derby (Gr1) impressively. She was back to her favourite hunting ground and had run second to Multifaceted in her last run after a layoff. That run obviously had done her good and she notched her tally to six wins from 8 starts. 

Born Queen was right up with leader Historian and once in the homestretch, she shot ahead striding smoothly to add distance with each stride and eventually winning the Nilgiris Gold Cup by three and half lengths. My opinion fought off Rambunctious for the runner-up spot. 

Ramanathan trained Night Hunt (Net Whizz – A La Votre) produced another superlative gallop to win the Turf Authorities Cup untroubled. He got past Royal Currency soon on settling down and then accelerated fluently once in the homestretch. Within strides Night Hunt sped ahead and amassed a dominating lead and was all alone coming into the final furlong. Jockey Gaurav Singh eased up the gelding long before the wire, winning convincingly by a margin of four and half lengths. Royal Currency kicked on to finish second ahead of Angelino. Star Elegant, who had lost considerable ground at the start, did well to finish in the frame. 

Mr Kool (Knights Tour – La Prada) had it easy while winning the Hyderabad Race Club Cup without encountering any challenge. He was off to a good start and led the field all the way into the homestretch. Once in, jockey Nikhil Naidu got the Sebastian trainee to open up and Mr Kool built on the handy lead to stretch out fluently and stay well ahead of the rest. Mr Kool won easing up with a margin of over three lengths. Emelda chased the winner home, while Cotton Hall improved to finish in the money. 

Trainer Krishna’s Dashing Beauty (One Lucky Dane – Fearless), after  playing bridesmaid twice this season, came into her own to notch up her maiden victory in a fiercely fought race. Cartel was right up with the leader Stillwater until the turn with Dashing Beauty biding her time along the rails. 

Cartel surged past Stillwater soon on turning for home and took charge. He was a couple of lengths in front when Dashing Beauty started to close in. Lakshanam and Amber Lightning made some progress but not good enough to get at the two in front. Cartel held sway but his lead was eaten into by Dashing Beauty with every stride. The duo fought hard neck to neck through the final furlong. Both dashed past the winning post locked together. The photo-finish showed that Dashing Beauty had managed to pip Cartel on the post by a head. Lakshanam did well to finish a notable third.  

Pacific (Strong Suit – Paris) had not won since February this year but produced a quality run on the day to take her win-tally to three. She settled in third with jockey Ashhad Asbar astride as Oberon led them all the way into the straight. 

Oberon squandered a good lead as he was more than three lengths ahead with 400m to go. Pacific moved up nicely and started to draw closer to the leader. Empress Eternal and Protea started to quicken and were making headway. However, Pacific picked up speed approaching the distance post and the Iqbal trainee shot past Oberon easily to take command and stretch away to win the Bangalore Turf Cup Div - I with authority. Protea fought off Empress Eternal for the second spot. Oberon stayed on to finish fourth. 

Vishesh trained Full of Surprises (Pinson – Success Heiress) won the lower division of the race, dominating her rivals in the homestretch. Jockey Mukesh Kumar settled Full of Surprises in the third spot behind favourite Subjucate and Azeria until the turn. 

Subjucate had a useful lead coming into the straight but soon Full of Surprises made her presence felt. She covered the deficit with giant strides and sailed past Subjucate inside the final furlong. From thereon Full of Surprises simply drew further away to compile a huge margin of five lengths at the winning post. Subjucate held on from the late finishing Mayflower to keep the runner-up spot. 

Glorious Sunshine (Corporate Jungle – Wine House) opened the day’s proceedings with a powerful stretch run while winning the Delhi Race Club Cup. She was off quickly but settled in third behind Uncle Sam and Beauteous Maximus for most of the early part of the race. 

Uncle Sam led them into the straight and soon Glorious Sunshine started to wear the leader down. Glorious Sunshine picked up momentum and made a dash for the lead with a little more than a furlong to go. The Sebastian trainee sealed the issue long way from home to score a facile win. Favourite Soul Mate had a lot to do in the homestretch, yet managed to arrive with a fiery finish to reduce the margin considerably, finishing second just a length and half behind the winner. She was never prominent until the final furlong, but the burst of speed she churned out was impressive and this run may be ignored. She sure has it in her to make amends the next time out. Shield maiden ran on to finish in the money. 

For the professionals, trainer Sebastian and jockey Nikhil Naidu scored a double each.