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Looking To Lead Keeps Theworldismine At Bay

By Pearcey | 04 Feb 2010 | MYSORE


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Thursday's racing at Mysore turned out to be disastrous for punters, as one outsider after another kept scoring in a long card of nine events framed for the afternoon. After a very long time, most of the multi-leg pools got carried over by the halfway stage itself. Those who were lucky to back a winner were delighted by the declared dividends. Some piping hot favourites like Theworldismine and Witch Doctor were backed to the exclusion of their respective rivals. The defeat of these two horses was greeted with stunned silence. Both lost by a fraction of a length near the winning post, and took a lot of good money down the drain.

The Tranquility Cup, a seven-furlong race for horses in the highest Class at this centre, was split into two divisions. Theworldismine was the only four year-old in this entire group. His past performances and present form was so good that defeat was only a remote possibility. The colt was an odds-on choice to score today. Gnaneshwar took a good jump with him and was able to settle him nicely behind a runaway Red Dawn. Bastian Bay and Magical Spirit were in close attendance. The runners began to close-up as they entered the final furlong , and more than four or five of them seemed to have a realistic chance of scoring.

Theworldismine managed to get the better of the frontrunners, but had no answers when he was challenged and passed by rank outsider Looking To Lead. In the hands of apprentice Sreekanth, Looking To Lead seized a narrow advantage on the inside, and was ridden hard to keep the favourite at bay. A similar result greeted racegoers in the other division. Here too, the favourite Danger Diabolic had come with a scintillating run from the back and set sail for home. He overtook the speedy Special Force and Copenhagen in the straight. However, he was soon caught and passed by Feroz Khan's Alinski. With regular jockey A R Mani donning the silks, Alinski devoured ground on the wide outside and won with a measure of comfort. Turf Raider came with giant strides in the final stages and succeeded in pushing Dare Don back into fourth place.

Trainers Sharavanan and Md Sajid were the only professionals to score more than once today. After Looking To Lead's win in the day's feature, Sharavanan saddled Nice Guy to score his second successive victory. Nice Guy had won a Class B race about three weeks ago. He had carried the top weight to a facile victory on that day. Despite carrying a much lower load on his back today, Nice Guy was totally ignored from a betting perspective. With Suave and Theodora cornering most of the money, the winner was freely available at 10's and over. Jockey Shafiq had no problems in keeping him in a striking position for most of the way, before launching his final assault near the distance post.

Nice Guy overtook Theodora in the final furlong and wasn't really pressed to hold the late challenge posed by Black Cat, Hero's Dominance and Suave. Sajid's double came in the form of Expensive Affair and Swiss Chocolate. With Noorulla astride, Espensive Affair made every post a winning one. He ended up as the easiest winner in the day's card. He literally ran the opponents off their feet and registered a smart victory. Al Qamar tried his best to close the gap on the leader, but had no option but to settle for the second spot. The others were totally outclassed by this pair. Swiss Chocolate won a mile race for horses in Class IV. His job was made much easier as a result of a couple of factors. Favourite Minchu hurt himself at the gates and was immediately withdrawn. Second favourite Majestic Strides lost a lot of ground at the start, and was never in the hunt after this tardy beginning.

Swiss Chocolate and Jericho are known to revel over a mile. They came with smooth strides from the back and fought a keen duel. Despite shifting out, Swiss Chocolate maintained his grip on the race and won by a long length. Jericho is in fine form and can be earmarked for an early success. A stirring battle for supremacy was witnessed in the last race of the day. Most sprint events in Class III are known to produce keen finishes, and it was no different in this race. Pratap Kamath's Fire Brigade tracked Chamcha In Chief till the distance post, before skipping away from him. With Gnaneshwar making free use of the whalebone, Fire Brigade gained a fair advantage over the bottom-weighted Royal View. With Fire Brigade stopping and Royal View getting stronger, a roar of anticipation began to rise in the stands.

The winning post rescued Fire Brigade and allowed him to win by the smallest of margins. Thunder On finished a tame third. The day started with a couple of races for horses in the lowest class. Musical Signature and Mutual Fund set the trend for the day. Kishore's Musical Signature came from the tail end of the field and finished in front of an equally unfancied Activisto.

Favourite Mahseer was prominent till the bend before the ten year old retired from the fray. On the other hand, Mutual Fund posted a pillar-to-post victory. Apprentice Parveen made full use of his allowance and took this horse to the front. Trainer Bobby was quite relieved to see his charge holding onto his slender advantage over Opera Princess. Only a neck separated the two runners.