No one guessed that the horse named Strength To Succeed would have a date with the winning post in the Sohna Stud Million on Friday. Except the persons concerned! He did not sweat nor even ask his partner to stretch his muscle over the sprinter's distance.
In the field of ten juvenile, he began his journey behind Mandji and seeing the wire was just about a 100 m away from his reach, he did only let his jockey Ramandeep Singh Bal guide the path to reach the glory. "I got an intuition soon after the jump that the million is in his grasp and by the grace of God, it proved true," Ramandeep, who was the second best champion jockey of the previous Delhi season, told me. "I had a little doubt about the worst-widest draw (10), but once he broke out quickly and sat behind the leader, I became confident that he was not going to let me down," Laksh, the jubilant owner of the winner said. "I had never ever thought that he would have performed in this manner and that too without having bore down a crack of whip during the course of victory… He has added yet another feather to my cap by winning the country's first million race for the juvenile this year," Laksh, who is also the breeder of the triumphant, said.
Laksh's Nakul Stud had hogged the limelight earlier in the Capital circuit with Speedy and Superb Success - the horse of the year at his prime time. However, it was the Deccan Derby winner Man Of The Match, who carved a niche for his stud at the National level.
"The glory did not come in an easy way as the horse came in Delhi only in the month of September and being the ‘entire’ (full horse), I had to be extra cautious about the full brother of Flashy Trend, a category one runner in Hyderabad," Anupam Sharma, trainer, said. "Earlier we (including owner) had planned to have him run on December 11, but the preponement of the Million race from 18th to 14th forced us to let him face the cracking pace and I am proud to say that he kept my head aloft," he said. "He will now be looking forward for the Vaishnavi Mega Million and the colts Trial Stakes," the trainer added.
Mandji, who got the runner-up berth, has the potential to become a good sprinter. However, the most disheartened performance was of the much-hyped filly Stunning Rose, who never came out of the shadow of the third place. The filly, who had a promising debut under sufferance, was under the stigmata of fitness problem and that saw her odds drifting out drastically. However, she ran bravely. If she overcomes the misfortune in time, she will again be in the fray being the main contender for the big prize.
The Rafah Plate witnessed five horses battling for supremacy in the last 100 m before Five Star had her day by getting a three-parts-of-a-length better of Answers. Jockey Rajinder, who failed to guide Girlie Tales to sustain in a start to finish bid in the opener, succeeded on The Praetorian, who is expected to complete an encore soon. Kazim Ali Khan-saddled Murban made a back-to-back double under the guidance of R Parvesh. The way the gelding defied the heavy penalty, yet another win is not ruled out.
The later half of the programme brought cheers on the faces of Mrs Anita Chauhan’s family as her Sam Aldo overcame the hurdles of losing two races previously. When the grey gelding approached the winning post, her children and few supporters appeared on the day and sitting on the top of the stand started clapping in stead of calling out his name - a good gesture, particularly in the area which is especially meant for transmission. Private Eye brought the curtain down on the six-race meeting by enabling the maiden victory for the apprentice jockey Arun Kumar.
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