To say that Steal The Glory won last Wednesday showpiece event, the
Calcutta Derby Trial Stakes, it will be an understatement. The Daniel
David-trained inflicted a murderous assault on his five rival is the
right expression for the colt’s victory. The Conquering Hero--Winter
Dreams looked a winner the moment the field turned for home. Jockey
Imran Chisty held back the even-money favourite, behind the frontrunning
Triple Edge, Alterio and Elegant Road till about the final turn before
changing the gear on the stoutly made bay colt. The race was over the
moment the big striding galloper surged ahead at the top of the final
bend, forcing his jockey to apply brakes about a 100m from the winning
post.
The four-length verdict may appear flattering for the runner up, Alerio,
who had no business to be in the betting at 6-4 against the like of
Steal The Glory. In fact, the middle odds of the Vijay Singh-trained
horse were surprisingly quoted to be 13-10, forcing bookmakers to be
apprehensive on the Glory at 11-10.
Chisty and the Glory, nevertheless, could have doubled the margin of
their victory had they so desired but there was no reason for him to
do so in view of his target having been achieved. Alerio is, however,
expected to improve upon this run if he holds on in the training. It
was career’s second run and a decent effort considering his inexperience.
Favourites, otherwise, produced a doleful show in most of the events.
It was Chisty who started the day on a wrong foot when Rasalas failed
to justify the half-money odds offered on the horse in the 1,400 m Prince
Blossom Cup. However, the defeat of Rasalas, in a two-horse race, had
nothing to do with the observation that favourites fared poorly. More
than a handicap advantage it is the horse with greater finishing prowess
in the last furlong who wins such matches. Rasalas tried to win from
the start but knuckled under the marginally superior acceleration of
Aleksei who chased the leader at a sniffing distance behind, before
issuing his challenge.
Canterbury Rocks and her jockey Chisty, also favourite to win the 1,200
m Great Tribute Cup, must thank the opposition for trying to out-sprint
each other from the start. As a result of this the speedsters were a
tiring lot, leaving the Daniel David-trained late finisher to cash in
on the advantage.
Trainer Vijay Singh’s Innovator did a Canterybury Rock in the
1,400 m Smart Ruler Cup and no prizes for guessing that the 8-1 outsider
had a last laugh over the Chisty-ridden Razorsharp who was among the
leaders till a furlong from home.
Appetent, another unfancied winner, had learnt lessons from her previous
outings in which the Dark Nile filly had been played frontrunning roles.
Held back, in third or fourth, till well past the halfway mark, in the
1,800m Elistano Handicap, jockey Mohd Islam steadily improved the Javed
Khan-trained filly from that point. Inside the last furlong he took
the measure of Anniversary Boy who was trying to win a middle-distance
race from the start.
Allied News, a 5-1 shot adopted similar practice in the 1,200 m Accuser
Handicap and the victory came easy for the Vijay Singh-trained four-year-old
who was ridden by apprentice Jugnu Gurung.
To prove the point that waiting tactics were no success formula on
the day, Mozart and King Cole, the joint favourites at 2-1, failed to
reap the harvest when held back behind Thousand Stars, Waterwood and
Exclusive Affair in the Alternator Cup over 1,200 metres. It was an
8-1 shot Tomahawk who displayed his greater finishing power and recorded
a facile victory over Mozart who was lucky to get a wide rail-side opening.
King Cole, too, made a good progress on the wide out but his efforts
could help him bag the third slot only.
Trainer-jockey Daniel and Chisty combo was back in the winner’s
enclosure in the concluding event, the 1,000 m Desert Shot Handicap.
However, what was mystifying about their winner’s, Finesse’s
, victory was her 6-1 odds. The filly opened at 5-2 and was backed down
to 5-4 before the expansion process took over.
The topweighted Desire Prince, too, attracted a big support in the
11-horse field and the Jaiswal trained colt also looked comfortable
upfront after taking the charge of running from Light Of Law, Q’ba
and Storm Jewel. However, it was all over in the final 200 m, when Finesse
walked on to the scene from the seventh berth.
