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A FIERY FINISH ON CARDS FOR CHAMPION JOCKEYS CROWN

By Ikram Khan | 18 Mar 2023 | BANGALORE


Mr Daulat Chhabria & trainer S Narredu leading See My Heels (P Tervor Up), winner of The Kadambi Falls Plate

Top gun Trevor Patel in his effort to emerge the champion jockey this winter is picking the right rides and producing his best to obtain the right results in his favour and the race for the coveted crown with arch rival Srinath is hotting up, the two firing from all cylinders in the fascinating big clash, which has generated maximum excitement and interest among the railbirds at this centre. The two leaders, now tied at 22 wins, will leave no stone unturned in their effort to stay on top of their game and parade their skills on what is now billed as a big final Friday.

Trevor registered another treble on Saturday and Srinath in no mood to allow his rival to gain the cushion recorded a double to share the place on top of the leader board. The former opened his account on Ultimate Striker from Lokanath Gowda's stable in the lower division of the Chitrakote Falls Plate  Second in demand at the betting ring, Ultimate Striker had the best credentials in the creditable field of eight, but it was Flamingo Road from Mohd Khan's yard who garnered the maximum support, money pouring in on the six-year-old mare piloted by Rayan Ahmed. The Mohd Khan ward did well to call the shots for most part of the sprint trip before Trevor and Ultimate Striker assumed command when the race came on a boil and sprinted home to the delight of the Lokanath camp. Altair from Sharath Kumar's yard gained the runner-up berth ahead of the public choice Flamingo Road, who failed to match strides with the winner. The upper division of the event was claimed by another well supported second choice Rightly Noble from the stables of Prithviraj. Trevor in line for a treble in the concluding event was at his best packing punch and driving the winner hard to edge out the Aravind Ganapathy  schooled Musterion in a thriller. Chain Of Thoughts finished third, while the favourite Lagopus failed to complete the trip.

The Darius Byramji schooled Divo made a smashing debut in the Sea Bisquit Salver. The connections of the goodtype of youngster, it was clear, strongly fancied Divo to come good in his maiden start, satisfied with his impressive movements on the trial track and the son of Fiero did just that blowing the field off in the juvenile event without really working up a sweat. The favourite Seeking The Stars from Dominic's yard, who found Divo too hot to handle had to rest content with the runner-up berth. The winner has tremendous scope for improvement and his progress in summer will evoke major interest.

On the strength of his maiden success in his last essay, Disruptor from Sulaiman Attaollahi's yard was likely to top the betting board in the PV Shetty Memorial Trophy, but that was not to be, Inyoubelieve from the stables of  Prasanna Kumar  gaining the top billing. The public choice in the hands of Trevor did produce his best, but the belated charge was just not good enough to stop Disruptor and Srinath combine to post back-to-back wins to the delight of Sulaiman who has really worked hard to get Disruptor into the winners' circle twice. Kulsum finished a creditable third ahead of Wild Emperor who is set to pick up a couple of wins in summer.

Spurred by his success on Disruptor, Srinath produced exemplary saddle artistry on the Faraz Arshad-trained Southern Force in the upper division of the Dudhsagar Falls Plate run over a sprint. The four to one shot who looked a picture of fitness at the parade ring produced a sparkling gallop in the final furlong to overhaul rankoutsider Remontoir who at one stage looked set to spoil the punters party in the penultimate event. The runner-up paid a rich dividend of Rs, 460 on a tenner for the Second Horse Pool (SHP). Sheer Bliss finished third, while the public choice Sociable again disappointed her supporters only managing to complete the frame. Earlier, John and Arjun Manglorkar brought off a successful coup on Aldgate in the lower division of the event. The winner was heavily backed to come good in this moderate set and it worked according to plan, Aldgate doing  everything right to stand tall at the podium, while his supporters were smiling all the way to the windows of the bookies' cash counters. Opus One partnered by Trevor followed the winner home, while Belvedere finished ahead of Arrowette who continued to disappoint producing another lacklustre effort.

After Ultimate Striker's success, Lokanath supporters were very bullish of Golden Time's chances in the Kadambi Falls Plate run over a mile, but the favourite flopped badly in his effort to dominate the finish and finished a tame third behind the winner See My Heels from Satish Narredu's yard, guided home by the top gun Trevor and the second placed Lycurgus partnered by Zervan after his arm-chair ride to victory on Divo.