Dr MAM Ramaswamy's charge towards his 500th classic victory was fuelled by Wonder Smile, who sailed away to win the first classic of the winter season, The Fernhill's Palace Bangalore 1000 Guineas. Her victory over a similar trip during the opening weekend of the season was so striking that the betting public was in no mood to look beyond her and wagered on her with gay abandon. She came into the paddock sporting a wonderful coat and was looking totally relaxed as the runners were cantered to the starting gates. The price on her was shortening with each passing moment.
As the seven runners were flagged off, it was Silver Mascot and Masquenada who did the early running with Woman on Top and Passion To Perform in close attendance. Prakash had settled Wonder Smile in a comfortable fifth position. Woman on Top made the first move and went ahead at the 300 metre marker and soon found the favourite looming on her outside. The two of them were engaged in a duel for a while before Wonder Smile pulled away from Woman on Top and won with a measure of comfort. Though Passion to Perform had beaten Wonder Smile at level weights in Hyderabad, she seemed to have an off day today. She was seen galloping erratically when pressure was applied and could do no better than finish a tame third. Dr Ramaswamy is only a few classic wins away from the magical 500 and it is expected that this shall be achieved before the end of the current racing year 2007-08.
Jockey Prakash carried on with his unbeaten record on 2 year-olds this season. He made it four in a row with Exclusive Grey, though this time he was given a fright by the fast finishing Byramji trained Safari (China Visit-Safari Girl). The advantage of a race run helped Exclusive Grey to keep the runner up at bay, and it will be prudent to follow Safari in her next outing. On a Roll ran green and finished a bad third. The rest were
outclassed.
Irishman Hayes displayed his great riding skills during the afternoon. He won three out of the four races that he was slated to ride in a long card of nine events. He timed his run on the Vijay Mallya owned Suave to perfection. It was in the M S Krishnappa Memorial Cup, the added attraction for the day. In an open betting event, there was good support for many runners with last-minute money flowing in the direction of Pillar of Gold. Easy in his customary front-running style kept increasing the lead and seemed to be going away at the distance post, before Hayes-ridden Suave came with gigantic strides and won from the favourite Pillar of Gold. For the record, Easy ran a good third in spite of bursting his blood vessels during the race.
His other wins came astride Irfan Ghatala-trained Astounding Blue and Dhariwal's Alchesaye. On the first named, he was a mere spectator as Astounding blue was hard held while clocking in a distance clear of his rivals led by Southern Instinct. It was his riding on the latter which brought him all round praise from the patrons present at the race course. In this seven furlong trip, Pricelesssolitaire ridden by Colgan and Alchesaye were equally supported by the public. Both of them made their moves simultaneously at the bend ,and it was a lovely sight to see them going stride for stride in the last 400 metres. Hayes and Alchesaye got the nod from the judge. Much was expected of Freemason, but he was given a totally disinterested ride by his apprentice jockey and finished in the ruck.
Pricelesssolitaire should win her maiden race in the not too distant future,
Trainer Prithviraj carried on the good work that he had started on Friday. His owners must be delighted with his skills considering that he nominated his horses to win the opening and closing events in the day’s card. His horses get backed as if there is no tomorrow. Big money flowed onto Nice Guy and Arabian Memories and both of them won by widening margins. Now that these two horses have won the first races of their respective careers, it would be interesting to watch their progress.
Master Strategist and Graphic Design were the other two runaway winners on a day when jockey Hayes won his first treble on Indian soil and enjoyed the afternoon along with Prakash and Vivek who were associated with well backed doubles.
