The Poonawalla bred Evatina was thus recording three top class victories to complete a well deserved hat-trick. It is still green in everyone’s memory what jockey Prakash did on favourite Evatina during the Bangalore Summer Season when the filly was not permitted to run on merits. The Stewards and the Stipendiary Stewards came in for severe criticism for not even ordering an enquiry into the running and riding of Evatina. The soft ground was supposed to be the culprit!
Three months down the line, the slush, soft ground or hard surface hasn’t bothered Evatina from showing her true prowess. She showed her versatility by winning from five furlongs to seven furlongs with equal felicity, thus picking herself as one of the best sprinters seen recent times. Evatina is rightfully basking in the glory. If only professionals who contrive to lose on such champions had conscience?
With rains relenting and Pune remaining dry for a fortnight, the Derby day racing was held on the regular track. The track was conducive for fast timings and even a horse like Astro Boy, hitherto struggling to find her foot, won a five-furlong race in 59.95 seconds.
Ruben Star, who was expected to win the Derby, ran below par, sending distress signals well before the final bend. Secret Memory who raced in second position from the start, looked like being overhauled by Count De Monet in the final furlong but the pursuer
ran out of steam and faded away. There were many who blamed Srinath for coming very wide at the final bend and thus traversing extra distance. It is quite possible that on a track on which horses bettered their performances by a length or two, Count De Money’s cause would have been helped better if he had been ridden a little more up in front for he would have had to cover less ground on the front-runner. On a track on which the horses were not easily tiring, giving distance to a good horse by sitting off the pace may have been the undoing of the runner up. All said and done, Secret Memory took the travel and the Derby run at Hyderabad well by being able to beat the opposition fairly convincingly.
Interestingly, three horses of trainer Ganapathy completed a hat trick of wins at Pune
after poor shows in Bangalore. Evatina was a failed favourite in controversial circumstances while Secret Memory, who won the Derby, and Guest Connections, who won three races including a
graded race, had not even come within the shadow of the winning post in all their essays
during the Bangalore summer! This a remarkable feat given that these are high quality horses. The Ganapathy yard not only gets excellent results but also hides the merit of horses remarkably well so much so that champions run like miseries when then are being given runs with benign authorities turning a blind eye.
