Fillies Trial Stakes For Messalina
By Mirror Image

Hyderabad, Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Deccan Bookmakers Fillies Trial Stakes, the first of the monsoon classics, was run at Hyderabad on Sunday. On a warm afternoon, Captivating, who had gone through a mock race here, went into the race as the firm favourite, closing at 11 to 10. Going into the race Spot on, the local challenger – winner of the Hyderabad Juvenile Million - led gallantly from the start cutting a fast pace. Captivating and Massalina preferred to race behind the leader in that order. As the field entered the straight, Spot On was not showing signs of slowing down and with Captivating looked to be beaten, the only challenge was coming from Messalina. Jockey Wayne Smith had to ride out hard on the filly and she responded well to emerge victorious. Speaking to Indiarace after the race, Wayne Smith admitted that his filly ran green in the race, needing some hard riding to respond but was confident that she would strip fitter after this win. Trainer Padmanabhan, who is known to bring out his wards in pink of condition for classics, missed the course record by one hundredth of a second on Messalina. Amazing Ray began to improve towards the closing stages of the race and finished third ahead of Captivating.

 
Joint Owner Mrs.Blanche Salshana & Trainer S.Padmanabhan leading Messalina (Wayne Smith Up), winner of The Deccan Bookmakers Fillies Trail Stakes 2009
 
Sprucespringstien, who had won a six-furlong race, earlier in the season, proved once again that this was his pet distance. Having moved from Deshmuk’s stable to Faisal Hassan’s just a week ago, the grey son of Placerville gave his new owners plenty of reason to rejoice when he won the Original Vel Mrs.Radha Balasubramani Gold Cup, the supporting event on Sunday. One Mission who went into the race as the favourite, found one better for the second time. This time it could be argued that the rider asked for a rather tall task by his mount. Imran raced One Mission towards the rear for most part of the race and the 4-year-old gelding put in a resolute performance on the straight but was not good enough to get the better of Sprucespringstien. Jockey Roopesh has to be given all the credit for reading the race well and pushing Sprucespringstien through a pack of horses along the rails and emerging clear to win the race. Doing my Best had finished down the field in her previous outing, sported a pair of wings to finish third from nowhere.

It was a profitable Sunday for trainer Faisal Hassan having won the Blue Max Cup earlier in the day on Splendid Act. Jumping out quickly at the start, Splendid Act settled behind Cygnet till the final bend and took charge on the straight to score an impressive victory despite running a bit erratic on the straight.

Trainer Donald Netto had another glorious day, leading in three winners. Engaging the Bangalore based jockey, S. John, has proved to be very fruitful for Netto. John was astride two of Netto winners. The day started with Reality Show producing a winning gallop in the last 100 metres. Krithiman had to settle for second place while the favourite Chameli being was a spent force very early on the straight, finishing fourth behind Modest Bride. Netto pocketed both the divisions of the A. Krishnaswami Memorial Cup. Girl of Love on whom money kept pouring in, had an effortless victory in the higher division. John bided his time on Girl of Love, racing her in mid field and when asked for an effort, the ‘Girl’ swept past the field very impressively. It would pay to follow her. Prohibition improved to finish second ahead of Ice Man. Caligatae looks best over five furlongs, as he loses steam beyond that.

Kings Cruise wrapped up the lower division to make it two in a row this season. Red River Rebel loitered in the rear till the top of the straight and came up with a flourish to take the second spot beating Kohinoor King close to the winning post.

After failing as a favourite in her previous outing, where her stable mate trounced the field, Dating, made amends to clinch the Raja Saheb of Itkyal Memorial Cup. Taking the blinkers off may have helped Dating to put in a winning performance. Celtic Shot who had two listless performances shared favouritism with Cat of the Course. Imran kept Dating a handy third till the last 300 metres wherefrom she shot ahead and won well. Cat of the Course came up with a purposeful run but found the winner better. Penumatcha finished third while Celtic Shot was never in the hunt.

D’Silva’s Acciaccatura lifted the lower division of the Scenic Royale Plate with a sustained run to push Ruby Rouge to the runner up berth. Yippee appeared from nowhere to finish third.

English Indian had a pillar to post victory in the higher division, to end the day. Spectacular Hero, Classic Dancer, and Deccan Passion chased the winner throughout the race and finished in that order.

D. Netto had a treble while Faisal Hassan, S.John and M.F. Ali Khan scored a double each.

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