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Iaepetus Completes An Encore In The Qutab Shahi Cup

By Mirror Image | 23 Jan 2011 | HYDERABAD


Trainer S A Shehzad Abbas and Mrs. Syed Ainuddin Arif leading Iaepetus (Daniel Grant Up), winner of The Qutab Shahi Cup.

Iaepetus (Major Impact-Limelite), the winner of the 2010 edition of The Qutab Shahi Cup, lifted the Cup again on Sunday. At 120 points, Iaepetus was the highest rated horse amongst the seven runners for the race, which had over a million rupees in offer as total stakes. The property of Dr and Mrs Syed Ainuddin Arif and Mrs M Suresh Kumar Reddy held on from Oban, to emerge victorious. The Bangalore challenger Oban, who had won her previous two starts in the ongoing Bangalore Winter season, received maximum support in the betting, closing at 17 to 10.

Iaepetus was a close second at the betting ring with a closing quote of 5 to 2. Kohinoor Wish had won a race over seven furlongs last week but the win was far from impressive. As the start was given, Iaepetus, taking off from the outermost draw, came in sharply, in a hurry to get to the fence for an early lead. Mission Chief surged ahead passing the seven-furlong marker, to cut the wind in front. Approaching the final bend, Mission Chief was still in front, followed by Iaepetus, Clever Ploy, El Paso, Vijayrath, Kohinoor Wish and Oban. Iaepetus grabbed the lead with about 350 metres left and surged clear to establish three-length lead from the nearest horse. Oban, travelling last till the top of the straight, was pulled out to make her final assault and with the jockey S.A. D’Souza in full flow, the mare covered almost a street but fell short by a ‘neck’ at the finish.

With all the ‘ifs and buts’ kept aside, Iaepetus turned out to be the hero of the day. D’Souza raised an objection against Daniel Grant, the rider of the winner Iaepetus for coming in sharply thereby breaking his stride completely. As the race was replayed repeatedly, it was observed that Iaepetus had gone in too soon after jumping out but that did not seem to have any adverse bearing on the running of Oban. Kohinoor Wish and Vijayrath were the most affected when the field got tightened at the start. The Stewards overruled the objection and the order of placing was not disturbed. Faisal Hassan’s Red Fairy (Hymn-Code Red) won The R.W.I.T.C. Cup in a thrilling three-horse finish. The race for horses in the highest category to run over a sprint distance of five and a half furlongs had attracted 12 runners.

Chestnut Charmer was on a start-to-finish bid with Fabulous Crown in chase for some distance. The race got to a boil in the last furlong with Chestnut Charmer being hard ridden by P.S. Chouhan in front while Red Fairy, charging with renewed vigour after dropping back from a prominent position. Jockey Imran Khan riding Red Fairy was able to get the better of Chestnut Charmer in the shadow of the winning post by a ‘head’. Bella Coola and the race favourite Orient Glory came flying from the rear, to finish a close third and fourth respectively. L.V.R. Deshmukh-trained Castle Town (Mid Town-Canaletto) made a smashing debut, in The Raja Sitharam Bhupal Of Domakonda Samsthan Memorial Cup, for three-year-old horses.

A pillar-to-post winner over the seven-furlong distance, Castle Town stretched away effortlessly for a six-length victory with more in hand. Bright Spectrum took the second place ahead of Celandine and Ice Rain. Trainers J. Silvester, Anupam Sharma and apprentice G. Sai Vamshi were the professionals to score a brace each. Sai Vamshi rode J. Silvester-trained Sorbitrate (Dancing Beggar-Stolen Blessing) to a clear win, in The Dark Angel Plate. Sorbitrate picked up momentum on entering the straight to clinch the lead from the front-running Merry Maid and remained unbeaten till the finish. Aficionado finished a tame second ahead of Kohinoor Victory, who was a further four and a half lengths behind. Sai Vamshi topped it up with a start-to-finish win on Anupam Sharma’s Krithiman (Alnasr Alwasheek-Starboard), in the lower division of The Naloma Plate, the concluding race of the day.

Anupam had earlier in the day led in Cheetah Hi Jeetha (Mr.Mellon-Clemenza), in the higher division of The Naloma Plate. Ashhad Asbar positioned Cheetah Hi Jeetha well and charged towards the leader Suryaputra to surge clear. Easy Touch pushed back Suryaputra to the third place close to the winning post. J. Silvester’s Invincible Genes (Case Law-Summer Wind) moved with a sustained run in the final furlong to beat Rich And Famous, in the higher division of The Jockey B. Madhukumar Memorial Cup. The lower division, which was the opening race of the day, was won by Donald Netto-trained Noor Ulain (Eljohar-Fair Truce) from start to finish. Chemeli occupied the second position. L. D’Silva’s Walnut Creek (Captain Rio-Ghay), who ran a close second in his only outing this season, made amends to clinch The Starsky Plate from the fast-finishing Jewel In The Crown by a wafer-thin margin.