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Chief's Dream Scores an Encore

By Pearcey | 18 Sep 2008 | MYSORE


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Racegoers witnessed two remarkable performances in the two divisions of The H H Narasimharaja Wadiyar Memorial Gold Cup, the feature event in Thursday's eight-event card held at Mysore. The upper division of this seven-furlong race saw a renewed clash between Chief's Dream and Precede who had faced each other only a few weeks ago. On that occasion, Chief's Dream had beaten Precede by a fair margin. The fact that Stylish Bay, who had run second in that race, came and trounced a big field in his subsequent start, enhanced the chances of Chief's Dream. However, the presence of Prakash in the saddle, as also the weights being in Precede's favour made the punters support him with confidence. Fantabulous Prince was also backed by his connections. The odds against Chief's Dream began to expand and he reached the starting gates as the third favourite. The speedy Mr Majestic set a strong pace till the three-furlong post before surrendering the lead to Precede. Carabinieri, Fantabulous Prince and Chief's Dream were in close order as they straightened for home. Prakash coaxed Precede to open up a lead of two lengths over the rest of the runners and pulled out his stick near the distance post. Just as Precede began to tire, Appu brought Chief's Dream with a nice run and joined issue with the leader. The latter was noticed to be travelling the better of the two, and finally won with a measure of comfort. Fantabulous Prince was ridden strongly to get up in the last few strides and take the third spot ahead of Carabinieri. Chief's Dream put up a gallant show by defying the penalty that he had received for his previous victory. The lower division was considered to be a straight fight between Falling In Love and Easy. The two of them had finished within a nose of each other in their last start. While Prakash continued his partnership with Falling In Love, the connections of Easy made a positive jockey switch and declared Gaurav Sapra to ride him. The two-kilo allowance theoretically tilted the scales in favour of Easy. What transpired on the track was a revelation. While Easy Rider and Easy made the early running, Prakash was content to keep Falling In Love in mid group and kept him there till they took the final bend. At this stage, Falling In Love was produced on the wide outside and asked to quicken. The response was magical. Falling In Love sped away from Easy and checked-in many lengths ahead of the runner-up. Leading trainer Robert Foley needs to be complimented for bringing about such amazing improvement in this horse. Falling In Love can be placed to score an encore in his next start. Prakash and Foley completed a quick double when they won the next race with Silken Lines. The filly was backed down to odds-on favouritism and won in a workmanlike fashion. Early leader Spicy Star was able to retain his second spot. The rest of the runners led by Loremo were totally out of depth in this race. Another short priced runner to score during the afternoon was the Habib Khan trained Royal Amber. This nice looking three-year old colt was a good performer in his first season. The connections were dismayed when he broke a blood vessel in his first start during the Summer Season. They gave him a long rest before bringing him out in the last weekend, and he had run an impressive third. Based on his past performances, and on the quality of the opposition that he faced in today's race, he was sent out as the half-money favourite. Suraj Narredu settled him into third place in the early stages of the race, before asking him to accelerate in the straight. Royal Amber took time to quicken and was under the stick for a while. His main opponent Fly Free got tired in the final stages of the race and eventually surrendered the second place to a late finishing Hakuna Matata. Looking To lead was a very close fourth. Royal Amber will definitely improve after this run. The day started as usual with a couple of races reserved for horses in the lowest class. The opener saw a nice little coup being landed on Royal Artist. PS Chouhan rode this filly for trainer Pradeep. Although Breed Apart came with menacing strides in the final stages of the race, he was unable to spoil the party. Royal Artist held on by a slim margin. Major Impression ran on from the rear and took the third spot. The next one was annexed by Live It Up. It is very rare for a zero rated horse to win a race at any centre. Prithviraj had taken over this four-year old when she was discarded by her previous owners. Jockey Shafiq gave her a few taps and pushed her to the front in this mile event. She made full use of the featherweight on her back and cantered away for an easy victory. Zangi and Wonder Splendour were able to save place money. The Justice P Medapa Memorial Cup, a mile race for horses in Class III, saw a full contingent of 12 acceptors facing the starter. The betting boards gave no clue to the final outcome of this race. Dhariwal-trained Alchesaye was a marginal favourite, but he missed the jump and trailed the field for most of the trip. Prakash took Spenderville to the front and tried to make it a start-to-finish affair. He almost succeeded before Krishnan brought Sun Zone into the fray and wore him down. Sun Zone won easily from a late finishing Double Elite, who was able to nose out Spenderville for the second spot. The day's proceedings ended with a bloodless victory for Authoritarian. This last outing winner was the only three-year old racing against older horses .Although he had been penalized for his last win, being a young horse, he had the scope for improvement. Gnaneshwar was a picture of confidence on Authoritarian, as he held him on a tight leash for most of the way. It ceased to be a contest when he let him down. Authoritarian sped past the favourite Matter Of Opinion, and Gnaneshwar had the opportunity to ease him near the winning post. Suryarath made good progress in the final stages of the race to take the third spot.