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| Palazzio's Sun |
Imran Chisty rode powerfully to land a nice priced treble today. He rode a pair for veteran Rashid Byramji ,in addition to succeeding with Arjun Mangalorkar's Table Mountain. It all started with Lowndes Square. The chestnut colt had won his maiden start about a month ago. An easy run in a terms event had sharpened him for today's seven furlong race in Class IV. He was lucky to find himself in this company, and was backed with confidence. Imran was content to keep the top weighted favourite in striking position till well into the straight ,before he decided to make his move. Lowndes Square responded strongly and powered away from the others. He was more than five lengths clear at the wire. Price To Fame recieved a lot of support in the ring, but could do no better than finishing a poor second ahead of Peacemaker. He was unlucky to cross swords with the winner.
Table Mountain was pitched in a ten furlong race, where he faced a group of younger horses. Table Mountain had run twice this season, and on both occasions, had shown his liking for a longer trip. The normally lethargic beginner was given a tap and taken to the front. He led past the mile marker before Chisty eased him into fourth position. Vivacity, Saptashwa and Native Talent made most of the running in the backstretch,before retiring from the scene. It was Portobello on the rails,Table Mountain in the middle and Dante's Peak on the wide outside who stormed into the picture. Table Mountain was always travelling the strongest of the lot, and he grew better near the finish. Under a powerful ride from his jockey, the four year old scored by a length from Portobello.
The third and last leg of the treble was completed with Desert Rule. A huge coup was landed with this horse. He was backed down from 6's to 3's. The race itself was quite intriguing. Lock and Load showed the way to Desert Rule till the final bend, and surrendered tamely. Desert Rule took over the running at that stage and was hard pressed to last out from Spark Of Reverence and Pelikano. Spark Of Reverence was given a poor ride by Gaurav Sapra. He changed course repeatedly and did not allow the bottom weighted horse to run a settled race in the straight. The other fancied runners made a belated effort to finish on board. Heavy showers and the resultant wet going may have affected these horses.
Trainer Ganapathy's Classic Commander made a pillar to post effort and romped home in the opening race of the day. He opened as an even money favourite, but with money flowing in the direction of Attaturk and Alluring, eased off to three's in no time.Prakash took Classic Commander to the front, and the horse was travelling so comfortably that the jockey was able to ease him much before reaching the winning post. Sunny Connexion got up on the last stride to beat Alluring into third place.
Another gamble was landed by the connections of Sharat Kumar trained Voice Of India. This horse is known to relish a longer trip of seven furlongs, and therefore ,today's trip of 1100 metres was considered sharp for him. He was accordingly available at longer odds on the betting boards. The horse was a little sluggish at the gates, but this did not seem to bother rookie Afsar Khan. He kept niggling the horse and Voice Of India kept improving his position. He gained momentum near the furlong marker and flew past a hapless Simply Phenomenal. Favourite Leading Lady gulped down a lot of money for the second time in recent weeks and confirmed that she is unreliable. The winner is capable of repeating on promotion.
