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Woman On Top Beats Lionheart by a Whisker

By Pearcey | 29 Aug 2008 | MYSORE


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Trainer Lokanath Gowda deserves praise for his ability in producing Woman On Top in perfect condition on Friday , and winning The H H Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar Gold Cup, the feature event in the day's card. A dozen top class horses had accepted to take part in this well endowed event over 1400 metres. Splendid Surprise, the winner of The Mysore Derby 2007, was marginally favoured ahead of Guest Connections and Lionheart, while the others could be easily backed at 10's and over. The three above mentioned horses were travelling over a trip ideally suited to them, and had been reported to be working well. Diamond Hunter and Woman On Top were also favourably handicapped by the terms of this race, but based on their past performances, were considered to be brilliant over a sprint. The rest were out of depth in this race. Woman On Top has not been an easy horse to train. This filly has had a number of problems since the early days of her career, and has been frequently on the "Repair List" of her stable. She was brilliant as a youngster, and had in fact run as an odds-on choice against the likes of Bourbon King and others. It was this very spark which encouraged Lokanath Gowda to keep her going, but at the same time he was careful in racing her sparingly. After two wins in winter, she was nominated to take part in The Sprinter's Cup at Malakpet. Unfortunately, she developed a mild fever and ran disappointingly. After another win under her belt in Summer, she was entered to take part in the feature event at Mysore on Friday. Jockey Harish, who is currently based in Hyderabad, was summoned to do duty on her. Woman On Top took a nice jump from an outside draw and settled into an early lead over Guest Connections, Diamond Hunter and Lionheart. Splendid Surprise was toiling in the rear while Royal Ambassador got left at the starting gates. Harish was clever to slow down the pace as the field entered the straight. Woman On Top was travelling well and her closest challengers Guest Connections and Diamond Hunter were unable to catch up with her. It was left to the stout-hearted Lionheart to make a move from the back, and engage the frontrunner in a duel. Harish put his head down and pushed the filly for all he was worth. Woman On Top was perceptably slowing down with each stride as they neared the winning post. The two of them were locked together in a very close finish. Woman On Top got the nod from the judge and won by a short head. Guest Connections was a fair third while Diamond Hunter was a faraway fourth. Lionheart was unfortunate to lose this race. Another talking point during the afternoon was the running of the eighth race, which had been won by the Foley trained Command. Appu ridden Jersey Power was a hot favourite in this event and had finished a close second. Jockey Manikandan was obviously on a superior horse and would have won with ease ,if only he had maintained a straight course on the winner. Command took over the running in the last couple of furlongs and seemed to be travelling well. Jersey Power was trying to make a bid on the outside but was finding it difficult to match strides with the leader. At this stage, Manikandan made a mess of his job and Command began to drift out.With nowhere else to go, Appu switched Jersey Power towards the rails. Manikandan panicked thereafter and changed his whip from right to left. This time Command veered inwards and again took the ground of the favourite. The whole thing looked so "Messy" that an objection against the winner was expected. The red cone was hoisted, and after a unanimous opinion from the stipes, the stewards did not hesitate to uphold the objection. Command would have been winner number "Five" of the afternoon for trainer Robert Foley. He had to be content with only four. Champion jockey Prakash returned back to the saddle after a short break due to suspension. He was able to ride a treble for the day. All three winners were odds-on choices in their respective events and won with effortless ease.Star Flight was given a bit of a fight by Sheer Gold, before kicking away from her. Potential Star was a distance clear of Allegro. A poor lot of horses were another distance behind them. The most impressive of the afternoon was Present Glory in the last race of the day. She bounded away from Babbu The Sly and the frontrunning Loremo. Potential Star and Present Glory should be supported with confidence in their next starts. Foley's fourth winner came in the form of Mill Fontaine, who won The M K Srinivas Trophy. The start of this mile event saw favourite Allonia getting left at the gates. Fire Wings did the obligatory front running and gave way to Chilly Wind near the home turn. Mill Fontaine was running second last while Allonia was a detatched last at this stage. The scene changed dramatically thereafter, as Mill Fontaine and Allonia made their moves at the same time and began to dictate terms thereafter. The two were locked in a brief struggle before Mill Fontaine got stronger and won easily from Allonia. Vinod Shinde rode a good race on the winner. Chilly Wind stayed on to be third. Allonia would have definitely won ,but for her lapse at the starting gates. Another interseting race in the day's card was a class II event over a mile. Perpetuity was a strong favourite to win this race and almost won it before being shocked at the post by rank outsider Guided Missile. Allowing Saptashwa ,Local Warrior and Amazing One to dictate terms till the last furlong, Suraj Narredu brought Perpetuity on the wide outside and took over the running. Chandrasekar was seen urging Guided Missile for an effort at this stage. Guided Missile responded to his masters call and bounded forward to collar Perpetuity near the winning post. Agassiz came from way back to save place money. The first two races in the day's card were reserved for horses in the lowest class at Mysore. Although Silver Paris had run good races at Bangalore in the summer season, she was friendless today. The presence of jockey P Mani in the saddle had someting to do with it. Silver Paris ran a fair race and won at the expense of Smile Again and Star Blue. The second race was won by the strongly backed Shantala. Gaurav Sapra took her on a start-to-finish mission and lasted out to win from Khushi. The supporters of the favourite should consider themselves extremely lucky, since Khushi had burst his blood vessels during the running of the race.