 |
| Salsera |
The Bull Temple Trophy, a seven furlong race for horses in Class II had attracted a very competitive bunch of a dozen starters. Many amongst them had a realistic chance of winning, and the betting boards indicated the "open" nature of the day's feature. While Salsera was making a bid to repeat her earlier victory, Rimpuche and Royal Treasure were re-appearing after having run close to the winners in their previous starts. There was a positive switch of jockey on Stone Of Destiny, who had been entrusted to Harish after having been guided by lesser known riders in the past. The presence of Suraj Narredu on Distinctly Ahead seemed to have enthused many to back this four year old, and this resulted in his becoming a firm favourite at race time.
Chris Hayes guided Salsera into box seat in the very early stages of the race, as Raiders Sun set a fast pace and brought them into view. Sun Zone, Rimpuche, Stone Of Destiny and Royal Treasure were in close attendance, while the favourite Distinctly Ahead was struggling to keep in touch with the front-runners. With Raiders Sun shooting his bolt near the bend, Salsera was forced to take over the running. Not wanting to wait any longer, Hayes urged the filly and she scampered away to what looked like an unassailable lead at that stage. Stone Of Destiny and Rimpuche went in chase while the others dropped out of contention. Salsera's lead began to diminish with each stride and the chasing duo began to gain ground on her. The winning post came to the rescue of Salsera who lasted out to win marginally ahead of Rimpuche and Stone Of Destiny. Royal Treasure and Distinctly Ahead finished a long way behind the first three.
Jockey Harish rode a neat double while guiding Warren Singh's Sanfrancisco Girl and Prithviraj's Rare And Precious to fluent victories. The day's opener saw a lot of money going down the drain on market leaders Fantasy Knot and Sun Device. Harish was able to hold Sanfrancisco Girl behind a speedy Flying Flame till the distance post, before essaying his challenge. The filly responded gamely and sped away thereafter.Flying Flame held on to his second spot ahead of Sun Device, while Fantasy Knot finished in the ruck. Harish was seen at his best while bringing Rare And Precious from the rear to pulverize the opposition in a sprint race, and carrying the top weight to an easy victory. Second favourite Poetic had overtaken Marcegalia near the two furlong pole and opened up a fair lead before the favourite came charging from behind. Rare And Precious had good last season form to justify this performance. He has the scope to improve from here and move up in the ratings. Poetic and Spicy Star were able to save place money.
Another professional to corner glory was jockey De Souza. After missing narrowly with Rimpuche in the feature event, he made amends by winning the last two races of the day. Riding Padmanabhan's Dante's Peak in a long distance race, he waited for a fair amount of time time before seizing an opening on the inside. With the field spreading out under pressure. De Souza and Dante's Peak assumed command in the final stages and won as they liked ahead of Jersey Rock. The dickey legged winner is capable of an encore provided his legs remain untroubled after today's brave effort. Spandau Ballet plodded into third place.
De Souza had an armchair ride to victory on Dhariwal's Just In Time. This rangy chestnut filly is a late bloomer and has taken after her dam Lyrical Bid. Just In Time was opposed by Lady Banks, Telemacchus and Repique, but none of them could handle the blistering acceleration of the winner. She won in a top class timing and is definitely destined to go up higher in the ratings. Lady Banks and Telemacchus filled the rest of the frame.
A nice looking three year old from Neil Darashah's yard made a fine impression while winning the only maiden's event during the afternoon. Dream Park (Gaswar-Jumeirah Park) displayed immaculate temperament while handling the extreme outside draw , as he skirted the packed field and romped home in unextended fashion. He sailed past the early leader High Gleam ,and was relaxed by Gnaneshwar towards the closing stages of this race to clock a smart timing for this scurry. Hurricane Bolt was heavily punished to retain the third spot.
Trainer Dominic was finally successful in leading-in his first winner of the season. The stable has been witness to many of its horses getting beat in close finishes in the last couple of months. The solidly supported Superior Sunrise gave no chance to his rivals as apprentice Ashok Kumar guided him to the easiest win of the day. Gift Of Diamond was under severe pressure to end a faraway second ahead of the early leader Amazing Flora. The winner clocked a smart time over the metric mile while carrying the heavy impost of 61.5 kgs.
Darius Byramji's Orientation was another favourite to oblige the punters. After a smart effort in her previous outing, when she was reappearing on a race track after a real long time, Orientation was supported to the exclusion of her rivals today. Apprentice Shiva Kumar had no hesitation in sending her to the front, and she won from end-to-end in facile fashion. Immortal and Star Blue finished behind the favourite.
