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SANTISSIMO IS IN CLASSIC MOULD
By Ikram Khan | 14 Jul 2024 | BANGALORE
Trainer P Shroff leading Santissimo (Vivek G Up), winner of The Mayor's Trophy
Unbeaten from his three starts at his parent-centre (Mumbai), classic hopeful Santissimo from Pesi Shroff's yard chalked out his fourth straight success, while sending out a strong message that he is a frontliner for the Colts classic in the month ahead. The strongly built handsome colt, up against a couple of classic performers in the Mayor's Trophy, the plum event, produced a sublime performance to make an impressive debut at this centre, convincingly beating the much improved Aralina and Tehani, while the Prihviraj schooled Fast Pace performed below par. Santissimo's next target will be the Colts Championship Stakes and in this classic he will be up against the two top colts at this campus, Knotty Legend and African Gold and this promises to be a mouth-watering clash.
Darius Byramji, who led in the winner of the first race, Crimson Flame on the opening day of the summer season on Saturday repeated the dose on Sunday, the lesser fancied Ranquelino outclassing his six rivals in the lower division of the Track Lightning Stakes run over a distance of seven furlongs. Amazing Stride from Imtiaz Khan's yard and Nyx from the stables of Sulaiman Attaollahi's stables garnered the maximum support, but the moment Akshay Kumar cracked the whip on Ranquelino, the `Jodi' went out of the window, Ranquelino storming ahead and putting the race to bed one furlong from home. Amazing Stride finished second ahead of Victor Hugo, while Nyx who had beaten Ranquelino by five lengths in their last head-to-head clash in winter completed the frame, finishing more than six lengths behind Ranquelino.
Trainer Warren Singh who led in two unfancied winners on Saturday, pulled off a gamble on The Athabasca. Competing in the lower division of the Sweet Memories Stakes run over a sprint, the winner backed down from (6/1) to (7/2) produced an astounding gallop in the hands of Sai Kiran to zoom past the top weighted Lauterbrunnen to the delight of the Warren Singh camp. Lauterbrunnen from Narayan Gowda's yard too was heavily backed (from (5/2) to (7/4) and closed the firm favourite, while Super Kind, who opened the favourite at (16/10) had no takers at (3/1). The Athabasca on the strength of this victory is set to provide an encore.
In the upper division, another contestant Oxytocin from Warren Singh's yard was the overwhelming favourite, but the strongly fancied favourite after losing a couple of lengths at the start soon covered up and hit the front entering the straight before surrendering the lead in the final 100 metres to finish off the frame. The 20 to one long shot Osiris from M R Singh's yard aggressively piloted by apprentice Ram Nandan Manjhi gained the day edging out another outsider Measure Of Time, who finished ahead of the second favourite General Patton in a cluster finish.
Advantageously placed in at the scales, Jade from the stables of Western India champion Pesi Shroff gained the top billing in the Epsom Stakes, but the public choice found the seasoned Galahad from Sulaiman's yard too hot to handle and finished second. Akshay Kumar who booted home Ranquelino in the opening event produced a copybook race on the grey, who produced his best to start his campaign on a winning note. Golden Peaks did well to save money in place, while Bharat made it clear that all is well with him, coming home nice and easy to make the board.
The Dominic-trained Jersey King provided some relief to the beleaguered punters, the first favourite to score after four races on Sunday and the first public choice to win after Super Sapphire won on the opening day, 10 fancied runners biting the dust before Jersey King's heartwarming effort in the lower division of the Manitou Stakes run over a sprint. Ebotse followed the winner home ahead of Magical Bay. The winner is in good nick and it will pay to again support this Dominic ward in the weeks ahead.
In what was a very open race, the Satish Narredu schooled Bourbonaire just lasted out to win the Be Safe Cup from the fast finishing Rodney who could have beaten the winner had his rider BR Kumar alerted the Irfan Ghatala ward a trifle earlier. Silver Strike finished a suggestive third and is one for the note book.
The on-money favourite Mansa Musa powerfully piloted by Trevor Patel produced a winning gallop at the all-important end to edge out Balmoral close home in the upper division of the Track Lightning Stakes run over a distance of seven furlongs. Storm Shadow despite looking a trifle gross did well to finish third and it will not be long before this Prasanna trainee earns his winning bracket.
The Arjun Manglorkar-trained Never Give In and Global Influence garnered maximum support in the concluding event, the upper division of the Manitou Stakes run over a sprint. The former helped Arjun record his first victory this season comfortably beating Global Influence piloted by Suraj Narredu. La McQueen stablemate of the winner caught the eye finishing a close third despite meeting interference in the final furlong.
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