Callidora was a runaway winner in her last outing and had been fairly
penalized by the handicapper for that performance. Her chances of repeating,
on promotion to the higher class, were not so bright. She was taking on a
well performed Champion's League, who had recently run a good second behind
Thursday Night. It was expected that the two of them would fight it out, and
sure enough, the two of them were involved in a nail biting finish. The
speedy Champions League was allowed to run freely in front by Gnaneshwar
while Callidora was a bit slow into her strides. Jockey Melvyn nudged
Callidora to be in touch with the frontrunner, and in doing so had to come
right round the field. On straightening up, Champions League maintained a
one length lead over Callidora and the two of them fought out every inch of
ground, before Callidora put her neck in front in the very last stride. The
numerous supporters of Champions League were really crestfallen when it was
announced that the favourite had burst his blood vessels during the race. A
delighted Tharun and Melvyn received the Continual Trophy, the feature
event in Wednesday's race card at Mysore.
It was an afternoon that Jockey Melvyn may not forget in a hurry. He rode a
memorable treble on Wacow, Ambiens and Callidora. He brushed up Macow to
lead soon after the start, and lasted out to win from Adventurous World and
Aaja Aaja in a race for horses in the lowest class. The favourite Aaja Aaja
was an unlucky loser, since his jockey chose to bring him along the rails
and in doing so was hampered for room right down the straight. He should not
miss in his next start provided he is campaigned, like today, in a race
reserved for horses who are 6 years old and over.
Melvyn completed his treble on Ambiens, who was running over a scurry event
and was lucky to be drawn on the inside in a field of twelve starters. They
were the quickest out and were challenged all the way in the straight by
Fire Brigade, who was the favourite to win this race . Ambiens did not give
up and finally was a comfortable winner of this race ahead of Fire Brigade
and Careerist . The other runners in this race were totally outpaced.
The highest rated horses that are stationed at Mysore, took part in a race
run over a distance of 1600 metres. It was an open betting event with Spark
of Glory being favoured marginally ahead of Evanston and Brown Sugar. Cafe
Coffee took off like a scalded cat and was soon a distance clear of the rest
led by Brown Sugar and Bountiful Beauty. He soon shortened his strides and
allowed Brown Sugar on his outside to take over the running. Evanston was
seen making steady progress from the rear and under the strong urgings of
Gnaneshwar wore down the apprentice ridden Brown Sugar in the last 50 metres
of the race. Bountiful Beauty picked up a tiring Cafe Coffee and beat him to
finish third.
The most impressive winner of the day was the Appachu trained Snow Leopard.
This horse was very carefully brought down to the lowest class and had been
well backed last time out when he finished second in a close finish. Today
he had no serious challengers, and literally toyed with the opposition in
the last couple of furlongs of this mile event. Considering that he is only
a four year old, we will be hearing more about this gelding in the months to
come. For the record, Armidale took the second spot ahead of the front
running Prettyyashyashvini.
A lot of money went down on Show n Tell in the last race of the day. This
mare had seen much better company in the years gone by, and was touted as a
certainty provided she ran true to the trackwork that she had shown her
master. She was a classic case of a "good thing got beat", considering that
she was in the rear for most of the way, and ,was knocked around when she
started moving through the middle of a closely packed field. Inspite of all
this, Show N Tell was a fast finishing third behind Faster Than Light and
Artistic Way. She will be too good to miss in her present form and
condition.
Melvyn shared the days riding honours with Gnaneshwar, who rode another
double to increase his tally at the head of the jockeys table.
