Ashkan Canters Away With The Nairn Cup |
| With a couple of weeks still to go in the Mysore Summer Season, the issue of the professional championships seems to be already decided. Darashah and Gnaneshwar are so far ahead of their respective colleagues that it is impossible for anyone to play catch-up in the remaining three day's of scheduled racing. The two of them had another successful outing on Wednesday, when they scored a popular double with Ashkan and Easy Rider. The day's feature happened to be a class IV race over seven furlongs.The presence of three year old Ashkan in The Nairn Cup scared away most of the opposition . He was left to tackle a poor bunch of seven rivals. With most of them having very average form in recent times, the bookmakers had no problem in installing Ashkan at the prohibitive odds of 30/100. He looked the part in the paddock while being paraded alongside the older horses. The race was run on predictable lines with the favourite taking a good jump, and occupying the box seat in the early stages of this event. Al Qamar made a valiant effort to race alongside,but the helpless horse ran out of gas before turning for home. Ashkan strode away majestically in the straight ,and was eased up much before passing the winning post. The ones at the back finished in a heap, with Demanding getting the better of Suave and Zindabad. The speedy Easy Rider made a similar bid in a sprint race for horses in Class III. The on-money favourite got a scare near the furlong marker,when Bridge Too Far came alongside and began to get the better of him. Gnaneshwar refused to give up and kept goading his mount. To the delight of Easy Rider's supporters, Bridge Too Far began to veer out under pressure. Rookie Paswan was a helpless spectator and had very little control on his mount. The favourite was able to regain the advantage close home, and won by a neck from his challenger. Thunder On was prominent till the turn before he retired into third place. The lower division of this sprint saw the recently promoted I Wanna Fly winning in another close finish from Black Cat and Suryarath. The winner displayed improved gate manners by taking a level jump at the start. Chandrasekhar rode a neat race on this winner. Saddam Iqbal was the other jockey to score twice during the afternoon. Both the wins were achieved with a late burst from the rear. Awesome Fighter is a front running type who likes to set his own pace in a race. He was held back in third place behind the fancied pair of Rain God and Pine Forest. Just as Rain God headed the others and charged for home, Awesome Fighter came with a smooth run on the rails to join the issue. In a ding-dong battle for supremacy, Awesome Fighter proved to be the better of the two. He won by a neck from the odds-on favourite. The young rider did a similar thing in the last race of the day. Saddam Iqbal was able to rouse Berkley Sqaure in the closing stages of this mile race. There was blinding rain all around and the visiblity was extremely poor. Well supported Roanoke had seized a fair advatage near the bend, and looked to be in full control of the proceedings. Berkley Square was noticed to be improving steadily for most of the way. After a lethargic start, the boy decided to save ground with him and kept this horse on the rails. The heavy underfoot conditions were perhaps responsible for the top weighted Roanoke shortening his strides in the final stages of the race. Berkley Square was lucky to find his neck in front at the finish. Cruise Control ended a close third. A seven furlong race for horses in the highest class saw three way betting on Sandokan, Kalpavruksha and Time To Celebrate. With Kalpavruksha getting left at the gates and Sandokan getting tired after his front running tactics, the backers of Time To Celebrate had plenty of reasons to do so. Apprentice Shoaib was able to keep him going while registering a fine win ahead of War Head and Bee For You. The winner had come down a lot in rating and today's victory was on expected lines. He has the Class to repeat on promotion. Last outing winner Toofan Mail had been given a huge penalty of 24 points by the handicapper. It was considered to be severe by most professionals. The punters had no such fear as they backed him with bravado , and sent him out as an even money chance to win today. The allowance claimed by the connections turned out to be a big advantage. Madhu Babu was able to hold him back till well into the straight. The horse came with a flourish thereafter and sailed past Penny Tweedy. Toofan Mail wasn't unduly pressed to go away for a two length victory , and can be expected to score in a similar event before the end of this season. The only other race in the day was the opening race of the day. Being a mile race for those in the lowest class, it attracted the full group of a dozen acceptors. In the absence of any clear indicators, Prince Of Argyle was installed as the 3/1 favourite. This horse seemed to be under duress for most of the way and ended last in this race. Stickiewicketdotcom and Ranveer had run second in their previous starts. They reproduced that form and dominated today's finish. In the hands of Rajesh Babu, Stickiewicketdotcom became stronger at the finish and romped home to an easy victory. |
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