Indiarace.com - india's first & foremost horse racing portal

Spearhead Loves To Run Freely In Front

By Pearcey | 03 Feb 2011 | BANGALORE


Mr. Zeyn Mirza & trainer S S Attaollahi leading Spearhead (C D Hayes Up), winner of The Stayers Trial Stakes

Rank-outsider Spearhead's determined start-to-finish bid landed him The Stayers Trial Stakes at the Bangalore races on Thursday. The Attaolahi-trainee signalled a welcome return to prime form with this superb performance. The day's feature failed to generate much excitement, as only five modest performers agreed to face the starter. On sheer ratings, the top-weighted group of older horses looked much better than the only four-year-old in this field. Irfan Ghatala's Sun Control was re-appearing after her close second to Balmoral Castle in The Bangalore Oaks. Even though she was receiving weight from her opponents, there weren't many who were convinced about her chances. Being a progeny of Ontario, they wondered why she was being subjected to this treatment. It was obvious that she was in distress after her hard run in the Oaks, wherein, Richard Hughes had given her a real testing ride. However, with question marks looming over her older opponents, Sun Control was installed as the first favourite. Firezone had trailed the field in his recent starts, the bandaged Henry's Secret was trying to rediscover his rhythm and Spearhead's campaign had been hampered by a mild setback in training. The only worthy rival seemed to be Spark Of Gold, who had won a long distance event during the Pune season. There were rumours about his well-being, but the same were ignored by the betting public. The large group which likes to oppose Irfan Ghatala's favourites decided to go with this six-year-old, and backed him down to 5/2 in the betting rings.

Spearhead (Burden Of Proof-Imposing) has generally succeeded in winning his races when he is allowed to go to the front. As the competition in Class I is very tight, he has been unable to do so in recent times. However, it was a different setting today. With the other four runners being held up in the early stages of this race, it was fairly easy for Spearhead. Chris Hayes relaxed him into an early lead and showed the way to Spark Of Gold, Sun Control and Henry's Secret, while Firezone lost interest in the proceedings very early and dropped out of contention. The order remained exactly the same as they took a full circle and straightened for home. The ones who were waiting for Sun Control to move forward were clearly disheartened. Suraj put the filly under pressure and asked her to quicken, but the response he got from her was quite unexpected. She shortened her strides, began to falter and was eventually beaten back into fourth place by a one-paced Henry's Secret. The fight in front never materialized. Spearhead kept kicking away in front and despite David Allan's heroics astride Spark Of Gold, there was hardly any change in the order. Spearhead maintained his strong hold on the proceedings, and galloped away with the handsome trophy along with a nomination to represent Bangalore in The Stayer's Cup at Mumbai. \

Spearhead's victory came immediately after the pair of Suleiman Attaolahi and Chris Hayes had scored in exactly the same manner with Delacroix (Glory Of Dancer-Make over). This success was achieved in a class II handicap over seven furlongs. Receiving one-sided support and starting as a half-money favourite in this race, Delacroix lived up to the expectations of his supporters. He took a good jump and went to the front. He ran the others off their feet by getting stronger in the straight. Chris was able to relax him in the final furlong, despite which, he clocked a top-class timing. Yas Marina and Con Artiste saved place money for their respective camps. Delacroix looks set to assert his superiority over those waiting to oppose him in class I, as he is capable of defying the handicapper.

A fine treble by leading jockey Suraj Narredu was the other feature in a long card of ten events framed for the afternoon. Despite his failures astride Irfan Ghatala's course favourites Sun Forever and Sun Control, he managed to score with Amiable Lady, Accurate and Fiorucci. The first two were trained by Satish Narredu, while Fiorucci was the lone winner amongst a horde of fancied runners from the Ghatala stable. All three winners made light of their earlier penalties and scored back-to-back victories. The most impressive was Amiable Lady (Sir Bordeaux-Northern Flower). She led early and raced well within herself as they came into the straight. A couple of taps from Suraj saw her emerging from the pack, and darting away to register another easy victory. Refresh came with a long stretch run to beat Enforcer and Saratoga near the winning post.

Accurate (Hurricane State-Aracruz) completed his hat-trick with equal ease. With his main opponent Senor Speedy losing ground at the start, Accurate's job became much easier. After following Sky Diver, Recharged and Juno till the bend, Acuurate was given his head. He came with a smooth acceleration down the centre of the track and sailed into a winning lead. Sun Dancing made a late bid to finish ahead of stablemates Sky Diver and Anna. Sun Dancing was always regarded highly by her connections, and they must have been thrilled with her performance. Re-appearing after a set-back in training, and a long absence of over six months from a race track, the filly put up a gutsy performance. She is bound to improve hereafter.

The win astride Fiorucci (Itaquere Power-Fiorenzza) was scored with a lot of difficulty, and Suraj had to reconfirm the order in the Stewards Room. The odds against the early morning favourite Fist Of Rage began to rise alarmingly and it was apparent that he wasn't being targeted at this race. The antics of jockey Christopher in the saddle raised a lot of eyebrows. He belted Fist Of Rage to snatch the lead and was at the helm of affairs till the top of the bend. The four year old got extremely tired thereafter, and stopped in his tracks to retire from the scene. Sparkling Image, Fiorucci and Plaka began their charge at the same juncture, and the three of them were put under pressure by their respective jockeys. Sparkling Image drifted out under pressure and moved towards Fiorucci. The filly shied away and took the ground of Plaka. Desouza had no option but to change course with Plaka. Fiorucci managed to beat Sparkling Image by a short head near the post, while Plaka took the third spot. An objection by the rider of Plaka against the first two finishers was overruled by the Stewards. They felt that the interference had made little material difference to the final result of this race.

It has taken jockey Mark Gallagher very little time to resume his winning ways on the local track. For someone who rode here with a lot of success in the years gone by, it wasn't difficult. He scored a long priced double with Adonis (Burden Of Proof-Adventure) and Severstahl (Diffident-Suave Star) on Thursday. In a race which was supposed to be restricted to Sun Forever and Six Gun Smith, this was an unexpected result. Sun Forever had made a smashing debut in a lower class and was shouldering a heavy penalty. Six Gun Smith had been heavily penalized for his victory during the opening weekend of the Winter Season. With Chris Hayes taking Six Gun Smith to the front, Gallagher decided to play the waiting game. He nursed the Dhariwal-trained Adonis to stay in second place till the horses entered the final furlong, and roused him thereafter. Adonis got the measure of Six Gun Smith and wore him down with every successive stride. Flame Back came flying from the rear to finish an impressive third. Sun Forever was never in the hunt, and looked extremely fatigued after this race.

Dominic's Severstahl beat the fancied pair of Hockenheim and Castro to pick up the only maidens race of the day. While Hockenheim was running after finishing an impressive second in her only start, this was a debut run for the big made Castro. On the other hand, Severstahl had already run twice and gained the requisite experience. Here too, Gallagher waited behind Lightning Express before making his charge. Severstahl led into the straight and kept going till the very end. Hockenheim challenged briefly before fading from the scene. Castro came with giant strides in the final furlong, but was a neck shy at the wire. The last named may be better suited over a longer trip.

The day started and ended with the two divisions of a Class IV sprint for horses aged five years old and over. Both these races saw some spirited betting on the eventual winners. In the hands of a fairly ordinary jockey, the Sharat Kumar camp decided to support Tern Me On (Pennine Ridge-Inca Tern). Having confidence in their horse, they backed him down to second favouritism behind Your Destiny. Mallikarjun had an easy time astride this horse. Tern Me On took a good jump, settled nicely into second place, spurted clear at the bend and won by a widening margin. The jockey was a mute spectator for most of the way.

Babu Rao's Spicy Star (Eljohar-All Above) received all round support nearing race time to start as the 2/1 favourite in the concluding event of the day. He had not won a race for the last couple of years, and was racing amongst horses of his own age group. John urged him to go to the front, and the speedy Spicy Star was quick to oblige. The pair of them was clear of the chasing pack as they entered the straight. With the jockey waving his whip, Spicy Star increased his momentum and won easily from Man Down Under and Enduring Speed.