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

Equal Luxury Shows Luxurious Lifestyle in Million

By Parjanya | 22 Mar 2011 | DELHI


-

Handicap matters most in racing. The axiom was proved correct again as Equal Luxury raised a fluent gallop to victory in the last stellar attraction for the youngsters - Sports Lifestyle Million, which was also the feature event at the Delhi races on Tuesday. For the second consecutive day, the racegoers screamed for help as barring Spot Hit, the other obliged horses did not rise to the occasion. Even professionals failed to impress. Though she sat pretty well on scale against the top-notched horses, the Deepak Kalra-trained Equal Luxury had to wait for her turn to come by chasing Master Belief and King Of Lords till the top of the final curve of the seven-furlong contest.

After displacing the second-named, the daughter of Young Senor and Seranova, had the leader only to be repelled for the coveted prize. However, under the visiting jockey Deepak Kamble Ashish, she succeeded in tightening the noose around Master Belief to dominate the last furlong. One of the last crops of late Young Senor, Equal Luxury is expected to perform even better over the mile. Skyscrapper and Goodwood Park, who were found napping at the wrong end of the field, warmed up late on the scene to occupy the second and third place respectively ahead of the tiring Master Belief. Skyscrapper would be a widely improved horse in the next venture. Master Belief, who had a lethargic start before showing out, will be one of the toughest competitors for the Juvenile Sprinters Cup.

Golden Route, winner of the Colts Trial Stakes, found the handicap stopper finishing close fifth. As luck would have it, the second portion of the starting gates flung open and few seconds later, horses from the first set of boxes also came out. At least six horses completed the course riderless and the authorities had no other option but to call off the first meeting, The Thaumaturk Plate, after having consulted the trainers concerned. The Reasonable Plate set the trend for the rank outsiders to rule the turf when Benedictus (Puerto Madero—Innara) completed an encore. The Hashim Ali Khan-schooled five-year-old gelding showed no sign of fatigue in taking on the field for the second time in 24 hours. Travelling fourth behind Dazzle, Game Of Talent (favourite) and Skyros, Danish once again adopted a waiting tactics to thrash them before the distance post.

Skyros managed to occupy the runner-up berth ahead of the late-finishing Invisible Force and Dream Debut. Ishwar Singh Parmar's Roaming Fame (Ontario-Here Goes) landed spoilsports in a comprehensive manner in the White Crown Plate. The way the odds of the favourite Rock Solid went up in air, the followers were seen keeping their fingers crossed. Despite having tucked in nicely before the bend, Rock Solid got into a jam, and was forced to find a way out. The gelding finished second, but in the process had obstructed the way of Revengeful Knight. The stewards found logic in the objection, and relegated Rock Solid to the third spot. Incidentally, Ranjeet had difficulty in holding him up on even keel after finding the right rein getting broken near the curve. The horse has the calibre to reach the top class with remedial measures (hanging basket bit).

After finishing second for a consecutive four times, Spot Hit (Case Law-Spring Water) eventually broke the jinx under the handling of apprentice Sandeep Rajput. Today, he made every post a winning one in the upper division of the Jai Govind Stud Plate. The run of Sunehree Parinda, who finished off the board, is best ignored. In the absence of Red Reef, the lower division of the plate turned out to be a lacklustre affair. In a five-horse field, Jovial (Eljohar-Fair Truce) met with success by keeping Mojo at bay in a pillar-to-post affair.