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ISNT SHE BEAUTIFUL WINS SPRINTERS TRIAL
By Ikram Khan | 07 Feb 2025 | BANGALORE
Trainer S Padmanabhan receiving the The Suresh Shanmugam Memorial Sprinters' Trial Stakes from Mr Sanjiv Shanmugam
After she surprised all winning the Oaks, the gutsy Queen Of Kings produced another top draw effort winning the Stayers' Trial Stakes, while the favourite Isnt She Beautiful emerged the top sprinter at this campus, reigning supreme in the Sprinters' Trial Stakes. The former, a (30/1) long shot in the Stayers event run over a mile-and half hit the front soon after the small field of four runners came under the starter's flag and stayed there right till the very end pegging back the on -money favourite Touch Of Grey and the well supported Mumbai hopeful Mansa Musa. Despite her impressive showing in the Oaks, none fancied Queen Of Kings to pull out another rabbit from the bag and to the shock and surprise of railbirds, Queen Of Kings repeated the dose beating a couple of much higher rated rivals to book her passage to Chennai to compete in the Stayers' Cup.
Isnt She Beautiful on form was a `sitter' in the Sprinters' event. The Padmanabhan schooled six-year-old mare looked a picture of fitness at the parade ring and to the delight of the followers of form produced an astounding gallop in the hands of Vivek to register her second straight win this season. Isnt She Beautiful, it is learnt burst her blood vessel close home and that may stop her from going to Guindy. Masato, a facile last start winner expectedly finished second behind the favourite, while the Imran Khan-trained Berrettini despite giving weight to Masato and Isnt She Beautiful did well to finish a game third.
Young trainer Aravind Ganapathy won his second `Million' this season, the six to one shot Eternal Glory strongly piloted by Ryan Ahmed edging out Mnemosyne from trainer Irfan Ghatala's yard in a thriller. Mnemosyne garnered the maximum support in the Sans Craintes Million, while Eternal Glory after her lacklustre showing in her last essay was ignored in the betting ring, the punters preferring to go with the two debutants from Irfan Ghatala's yard, Mnemosyne and Zephyrine. Mnemosyne in the hands of the in-form Vivek looked set to score a furlong from home before Ryan setalight Eternal Glory and the Aravind ward stormed through to pip the hot favourite at the wire. Zephyrine finished third ahead of Silver Quest.
"I'm delighted. This is my third success in the juveniles category this season and second `Million' after Magnetar won the Foster's Winter Million on Derby eve," said Aravind Ganapathy adding that he will take Magnetar to Mumbai to take a shot in the Poonawalla Multi-Million.
Second in demand at the betting ring, English Bay from the stables of Warren Singh came out on top in the Vidhana Soudha Cup run over a sprint. Aherne from the stables of Imtiaz Khan was surprisingly fancied most in a sprint event and despite Darshan packing punch on the favourite, all that Aherne could do was save money in place finishing third behind the runner-up Grizzly, stablemate of English Bay.
Another second favourite from Warren Singh's yard, Glow In The Dark, came good in the concluding event, the upper division of the Kadambi Falls Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs. The winner piloted in copybook fashion by AR Pradeep edged out the lesser fancied Smile Of Beauty from Dominic's yard and the top fancy Invincible in a thriller. The overwhelming favourite from Narayan Gowda's yard garnered maximum support on the strength of his impressive last start victory, but this time out Invincible lost out in a cluster finish much to the chagrin of all big bettors who had punted big on the Narayan Gowda ward.
The lower division of the event was claimed by the heavily backed Baashha, who provided trainer Umar Shariff his first career success. The winner in the hands of Prabhakaran hit the front soon after the field of eight runners came under the starter's flag and never let the initiative slip powering home to shed his maiden status in style. Now that Baashha has tasted success he is tipped to score again when saddled next. Second in demand at the betting ring, Treasure Chest was ineptly handled by Koshi Kumar who it was clear lacked the enterprise and willingness to make a race of it.
The Pradeep Annaiah schooled Power Of Beauty and last start winner Metzinger topped the betting board in the Dr.T Thimmaiah Memorial Trophy and in a humdinger Power Of Beauty piloted in sublime fashion by the vastly improved `Knight' Arvind Kumar gained the day, snuffing out the challenge of Metzinger and the runner-up Divine Art, a `neck' separating the first two, while Metzinger was another `neck' behind Divine Art. Power Of Beauty, it must be mentioned is on top of her game and is set to score again this season.
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