Lokanath Gowda's charge Woman On Top announced her return to top form with an emphatic win in Friday's feature event, The D. P. Sharma Memorial Sprinters Trial Stakes. This was a terms race with the weights being similar to what the participants would need to carry, in case they got a nomination for the Sprinters Cup to be run next month at Hyderabad. Woman On Top, was returning back to her pet sprinting distance and was accordingly installed as the first favourite. The bookmakers were generous in offering 2/1 against her for the simple reason that over the last few months, she had been under a cloud in terms of fitness. After a brilliant start to her career, she had many niggling problems and one must give credit to her painstaking trainer for bringing her back to peak form. With this win under her belt, she is going to be a frontline contender to lift the sprinting trophy over the Invitation weekend.
Seven runners faced the starter with Upper Crust, Woman On Top and Hesperus, standing out in the parade ring. Woman On Top took a fly jump out of the gates and sent a shiver down the spines of her numerous supporters. Upper Crust veered out a bit after the jump and soon found herself at the tail end of the field. The early running was made by Hesperus and Pastiche while the favourite was seen racing comfortably in fourth place. Jockey De Souza pulled her out in the straight and the race was all over bar the shouting. Woman On Top stretched out beautifully and was seen increasing her margin of victory with each stride. There was a scrimmage for the minor placings, with the hard ridden Badge Of Gold edging out Upper Crust for second place. The latter was unfortunate to get a very average ride from Chris Hayes, but for which, she would have been a comfortable second.
The Narasimharaja Cup for three year olds was the other big race in the day’s card. This well endowed event saw a dozen youngsters, with as many as five of them having won their previous starts. Our readers may remember that after the debut run of Fleeting Arrow, we had written about him being one of the best that we had seen this season. He confirmed that opinion in splendid fashion. This Burden Of Proof - Sabre Dance progeny is endowed with many good qualities. He has early speed, wonderful temperament and the ability to tackle a longer trip. He displayed all of them while moving into box seat from the widest draw, settling down easily in second place and lengthening his strides when asked by jockey Christopher. Fleeting Arrow clocked a class I timing and should be followed till beaten. Well-bred Shoot A Rainbow made an impressive debut by running second in this top-class company and should occupy the winner's enclosure in her next start. There was a lot of support for the S Ganapathy trained Gentle Knight, but that was totally misplaced.
Alekona was unfortunate to come across Rio Bravo in his last start, when he had gotten beat in the last few strides. Today he had no such problems as he carried the public purse to an impressive victory. He was seen getting knocked around in the early stages of the race, as Symbol Of Speed and Sugar Blaze set a good pace and brought the field into the home stretch. Apprentice John gave a couple of backhanders to Alekona, and the response was immediate. The two of them sailed away from Woman In Charge and India Shining, and in doing so, announced Alekona's arrival in the highest class.
A class III sprint event was split into two divisions. The top division saw a lot of money go down the drain, as the favourite River Island was seen struggling to match strides with the front-running duo of Top Of The Class and Sporting
Master. There seems to be something not right with River Island, considering that he is noticed to flop when asked to quicken by his rider. Suraj Narredu and Top Of The Class won by a widening margin from Sporting Master. River Island just lasted out to retain the third spot. The lower division saw Lush Foliage treating the opposition with total disdain. This filly had won her last start but was disqualified on the grounds of “breach of medication rules". She found herself back to her previous handicap and made full use of this opportunity. Sunnyland was whipped to hold on to his second place and finished marginally ahead of Born Beauty and Dock Of Bay.
Another last outing winner disqualified for similar reasons, Bee The Star, was the shortest priced runner of the day. She too was back to her previous winning mark and with the an additional 5Kg off her back, was guided by apprentice Vinod Shinde to a smooth win over a hard ridden Latino Magic. This was the first leg of a treble for trainer Irfan Ghatala. This hardworking trainer has had a good season and his horses are looking well. This trainer - apprentice duo combined again to lead in the public choice Final Deposit ,who was running after a gap of more than six months. Final Deposit was running for the first time for his new master, and ran according to the expectations of her connections. She won by many lengths from Silken Clare while the rest of the field was outclassed. She can win again on promotion. Irfan completed his treble with Mac, who was available at lucrative odds despite the presence of Mallesh Narredu in the saddle. This victory was easily gained ahead of Illusive Girl and Free Glider. Sun Zone took down a lot of money and refused to raise a fluent gallop throughout the race. From a betting perspective, Sun Zone should be left alone during the rest of this season
The day certainly belonged to Irfan Ghatala, who with this treble, has moved into second place in the trainer's tally for the current season.
