Loaded with an unknown potential, the three-year-old Spot Hit stunned the field while annexing the Governor's Cup, earmarked for class two horses, at the Delhi races on Friday.
Stretagic Moves, who finished impressive second to Spot Hit in the previous outing, made no mistake over the extended trip of over 1,600 metres under the guidance of R Parmod. The Magan Singh trainee should complete an encore. Endless Strides ran par below expectations in rear.
Going in a start-to-finish bid, the chestnut colt had no challenger at any stage of the seven furlongs trip. Jockey Imran Chisty, who showed his prowess in Kolkata on Thursday, came into limelight here too. The Aleem Khan trainee, however, had a difficult task to tackle on promotion after surviving against Strategic Moves over the identical distance in the Class 4. He could have run in Class 3 but the connections had the full confidence in him which saw him hanging at the fly weight.
"I was very much sure about his victory, but the way he transferred the expectations into the winning rhythm was creditable," Rajesh Sahgal, co-owner of the gelding told me. "He is still immature and has ample scope to improve," he added. Aleem had more or less the same opinion about the victorious chestnut.
Interestingly, Just Like A Woman and Patricia from the winners stable shared the placing orders by finishing second and third respectively. Both were badly placed till the serious turn and made the move together by locking their horns. The support of the photo-finish camera was sought. Dazling Win, who finished late fourth, should soon spring a surprise.
Aleem Khan's ward My Dream opened the 19th day with a scintillating turn of foot. Despite losing the strides and lying fourth till half way a mark, Shah did not lose hope and alerted the son of Razen and Society Dream to respond, who in turn, wore Rich gallery down inch by inch and finally shut the door on the latter with the wining post still away by 100 metres. The longer trip will be more suitable for My Dream.
Taking a lesson from the younger brother, Beauty of Man, who became the first 2-year-old runner to win the juvenile of the country in end-October in DElhi, Nawab Sahib found himself standing in the winner's block after the race. He was ridden out rigorously by jockey Pawan Sharma. The fast finishing Fast Dose came with raking strides from the stand side but was unable to find better place than the runner-up slot. The favourite Vision Remains stays unconquered.
The withdrawal of Spade of Ace in the upper division of the Supreme Power Plate opened the gate of victory for the four time failed favourite "Gates of Victory" under the assistance of Pawan Sharma.
