The Senator Wins by a Street |
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The followers of Srinath had a field day on Friday, when the ace jockey steered four winners in an eight-event card at Bangalore. He had come down from Mumbai to ride for two stables. Mahesh had entrusted him with a pair of last outing winners named The Senator and Systematic, while Warren Singh declared him to ride Cindy Girl and Another Destiny. All four were available at odds ranging from 6/4 to 4/1, and those who backed these winners were a delighted lot at the end of the day. There were neither hiccups nor panic as all four won with a measure of comfort. Systematic won by a length and a half, while the other three scored runaway victories. The most impressive amongst the lot was The Senator who bagged The Bugs Bunny Trophy, the feature event in the day's card. This well-bred (Steinbeck-Distinction) three year-old had been running some poor races in the Summer Season. Mahesh decided to geld him thereafter, and the horse showed remarkable improvement in his first run after the said procedure. The Senator had raised a strong gallop while upsetting the applecart of a heavily gambled First Of A Legend on the opening day of this season. Since the margin of that victory was only a fraction of a length, the handicapper had no choice but to levy a small penalty and the horse was lucky to be retained in Class IV. The Senator was strongly opposed by Spring A Surprise and Gurujosh in a field of a dozen acceptors. Srinath coaxed The Senator into an early lead and settled him beautifully in front of Gurujosh, Spring A Surprise and Simply Dangerous. The pace was so hectic that the runners were soon running in a single file, as they took the rising ground and turned for home. Srinath released his grip on the leader and the horse bounded forward. He displayed remarkable acceleration and went more than fifteen lengths clear of a tiring Gurujosh. Mister Trooper came with a late bid and displaced Spring A Surprise from the third spot. The winner carried the heavy impost to a top class timing, and in his present form and condition, is likely to make rapid progress towards the highest Class at this centre. Systematic gave Srinath and Mahesh their other winner for the afternoon. The filly is being targeted at The Bangalore Oaks in January, and today’s run over nine furlongs was used as a test of her staying abilities. She acquitted herself creditably by staying up with the pace, and quickening in the straight. Although the strongly ridden Lush Lashes came with a flourish at the end, Systematic was well within herself while speeding past the winning post. There was strong support for Moon Memories and Leave It To Me in this race but the two fillies were no match to the winner. Srinath started the day with a victory astride Cindy Girl in the opening race of the day. For the third straight time, Lokanath trained Leading Lady was the medium of an unsuccessful gamble. The small made filly rouses hopes with some sparkling track work but disappoints in an actual race. It was no different today as she led from Cindy Girl till the bend before surrendering tamely. Srinath was a mute spectator as Cindy Girl lengthened her strides and scored by a shade under six lengths from Leading Lady and Dazzling Honour. An equally easy victory awaited him in the last race, wherein Another Destiny showed a clean pair of heels to the heavily backed Greens and the rest. Another Destiny was a favourite in his first start but had apparently flopped because of the heavy underfoot conditions on that day. The speedy horse loves to set a strong pace on good going. The conditions were ideally suited to his style of running and Srinath did not have to do much while easing him up, almost eight lengths clear of the others. Greens was running after a long lay-off and should improve after this experience. Trainer Irfan Ghatala was the other professional to score with a couple of well-fancied runners. Advantage Logan was the best performed horse amongst a bunch of maidens, and he justified the favouritism by getting up in the last few metres and collaring a runaway Calypso Star. BL Paswan had to ride hard to succeed in this race. Tuthmosis was another runner who was expected to run prominently, but he got into traffic problems throughout the race. He was shown daylight close home and the bay flew into third place. Irfan utilized the services of Vinod Shinde on another maiden three year-old who was running in handicap company. Dolce Vino was carrying the bottom weight in a sprint race for horses that had run but not won in recent months. This Irfan trainee too won in an exciting finish. Dolce Vino galloped strongly to collar Trillion Win on the post. Take My Word was an expensive flop in this race. The horse was caught on the wide outside and galloped on the wrong leg for most of the way. Prithviraj-trained Prashastha landed the “gamble of the decade” on Friday. One has to go down memory lane to remember the last time such a thing happened on the local track. The only one that comes to mind is the victory of a horse called "Indian" from the Puttanna stable. That horse had been slammed down and had had won in an identical fashion as Prashastha today. Jockey Milan had a tough time holding Prashastha in the very early stages and decided to let him go. The horse kept increasing his lead and won by almost twenty lengths from Bonzini and the one eyed favourite My Musketeer. The trainer needs to be complimented for preparing this horse astutely and making him look wonderful in the parade ring. The only other race in the day's card was won by the David Allan ridden Music Forever. Dominic had given him an easy start over a longer trip earlier in the season and had given him some solid work thereafter. The big made Music Forever showed his penchant for sprinting by collaring the front running Smart N Special near the bend, and outpacing Cannavaro and Fanaa at the end. It was a popular victory as Music Forever had been backed by all and sundry. |
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