Unfancied Maseeha wins Longines Classic
By North-End

Mumbai. Dec 7, 2007

As expected, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was the star attraction of the sixth day of the Mumbai Meeting. The Brand Ambassador for the Swiss watch company did the honours of presenting the Longines Classic trophy and a sports watch to Kareem Dhanani, the winning owner and Nadeem Alam, the winning jockey. Ms. Bachchan flew in to the racecourse by a special chopper and witnessed Maseeha winning the Longines Classic. “I recollect coming to the races some 13 years ago. How time flies! Particularly in the profession I am in,” she said.

Try Your Luck was the half-money favourite in the opening event of the day and had C. Rajendra also looking to open his account this Season. The Hoshidar Daji ward settled into the third spot not too far from the bottom weighted Grey Storm (Sailesh Shinde). As they turned for home, Grey Storm quickened and made a fight of it, but could not last the long straight. With 200 m to go, Try Your Luck, started to respond to the reminders of her jockey and made a final dash to the winning post. Grey Storm was wilting a 100 m too soon and surrendered the second spot to a hard ridden Eternal Spirit. Try Your Luck won well, and can trouble her rivals in the higher set as well.

Englehart (Tograllu), the only other on-money favourite on the day, was more convincing in his victory. Last of four till the bend, Englehart quickened well early in the straight and easily raced past the front runners and had the race well sewn up a long way from home. Peoria and Wafadar jostled with each other for the runner-up berth and the former held on. Rivaaz came in late but did cover some ground and is shaping well. Wafadar was bumped by Peoria and can make that an excuse for losing out even the third spot and that would be justified. However, it was Englehart all the way and an encore for the Narendra Lagad trainee is well on the cards.

Walking Tall (Shailesh Shinde), Black Dahlia (Samuel Fargeat) and Sparta (YS Srinath) cornered most of the support. The first named was the clear favourite and did well to justify the status. Leading from the word ‘go’, Walking Tall built up a sizeable lead and then played catch-me-if-you-can with the rest. Only Black Dahlia took up the challenge. With 300 m from home, Black Dahlia set about narrowing the margin and ended up doing only that, and Fargeat had to really sweat it out in doing so. Walking Tall kept going and never really looked in any danger despite Black Dahlia’s seemingly stiff challenge. Walking Tall stood tall and won well. Black Dahlia was gallant in defeat and will bide her time. Sparta disappointed while Royal Crown was found to have bled.

Urban Warrior (Samuel Fargeat) was the first choice in the betting ring. The top weight had a slight hiccup near the 1,000-metre marker when, in trying to improve his position, Fargeat attempted to take a narrow opening which was quickly closed thereby causing him to check. The jockey, however, quickly recovered to be prominent at the turn. Magical Morn (Shailesh Shinde), by then had taken over from Hisham (SS Baria) and coasting towards an easy victory. Urban Warrior did put in a late burst, but it was far too late. However, Urban Warrior was seen catching up in the closing stages and deserves another chance. Hisham did very well to retain the second spot. House Prefect (Belose) came up from far behind to end fourth. Taras Bulba (Nrmal Jodha) ran wide all through.

Teaser (PS Chouhan) showed that age does not matter. Trainer Sangramsinh Joshi needs to be commended for keeping the 12 year-old gelding in a fighting fit condition to land the spoils in this 6-furlong sprint. Matching strides from early on with the favourite Sleight Of Hand (Vikram Jodha), Teaser shifted to top gear and kicked on gamely to win by a decent margin. Sleight Of Hand worked hard to end up second. Above all lost all his chances by not maintaining a straight course and going extremely wide, but still managed to finish third. Polar Bear and Hymn’s Angel did cover ground to end fourth and fifth respectively. J.Pradeep disappointed on Mercedes. The well-backed Mercedes was up with the leaders and expected to put up a fight in the least, but Pradeep looked listless the way he handled the ride and Mercedes couldn’t even figure in the top five. Above All should benefit from this run.

The Longines Classic was the feature of the day. Lake Palace (KPG Appu) after her facile last start victory was once again the popular choice. Obelinna (Rajendra) led the field and was soon joined by Maseeha (Nadeem Alam). Lake Palace, settled into third, was fighting for her head; Montalvo was in close attendance with Spiritual Flame and the rest following close behind. At the straight, Obelinna surrendered the lead to Maseeha who warmed up nicely and surged ahead. Montalvo first came up to challenge, but could not sustain. Spiritual Flame (PS Chouhan) put up a fight if there was one and Maseeha just kept going. Star Crusader ran a very close third and was the one to catch the eye. Lake Palace disappointed and so did Montalvo. Memorable Day and Canton Caper were both found to have bled during the race.

Golden Spurs ( J Pradeep) came up with a dazzling last burst to sail past the front runners to register a fluent win. Pradeep was full of energy this time unlike on Mercedes earlier in the day. Bridge Too Far brought the field home; Marmaris was in chase. Marmaris bled and there ended his chances. At the distance post, Bridge Too Far was strongly challenged by Pure Devotion (Samuel Fargeat) and Golden Spurs, the latter putting in a spirited run to clinch the issue comfortably. Pure Devotion, who was a good second, encountered a slight check in the final couple of strides.