This is in direct reference to that awesome gelding, Autonomy. The worthy son of Razeen and All Heart showed what it takes to be a true champion. Although he was the first favourite, the line up for the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr1) was indeed a formidable one. Majority of the contenders had confirmed that they had what it takes to be a top-class horse. And the one who would return victorious had to do something extraordinary to account for this field of specialists. Autonomy did just that – he put in such a fiery performance that a new record timing was set for the 1600-metre distance. The great Mystical, in November of 2006, had clocked 1:34.65 and on Sunday Autonomy bettered it to log 1:34.10.
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| Autonomy |
Like in real life, the two fillies made the boys chase them for most of the early part of the race. Only here, the boys ran on past regardless, to keep a date with victory instead. Joke apart, Phenomenale and Cest Bon cut a fast pace and had the field following them in a closely herded bunch. Autonomy was a close fourth just on the outside of Palazzio’s Sun who could never get out of the rails even when he wanted to. Red Romeo was too far behind the fillies and never got prominent.
Once into the straight, Autonomy soon gathered momentum and took the initiative but had Juventus on his haunches refusing to be shaken off. Phenomenale and Cest Bon had surrendered to the male dominance. Although Juventus was fighting hard, he never looked like passing Autonomy at any stage. At the distance post, Dancing Dynamite started to flex his muscles on the outside, threw in his challenge, and came up with a terrific finishing effort. He was covering ground the fastest in the final furlong, even faster than Autonomy. To his misfortune, and to the relief of the Autonomy and his connections, the winning post arrived and race caller Deepak Rajpal screamed A-U-T-O-N-O-M-Y ….. and the crowd joined in, in unison, sending the decibels soaring to deafening levels.
The favourite had obliged and how! As I walked through the crowd, I saw every person rendering his view of the race with animated gestures. The adrenalin flows… nay…it floods, whenever races such as the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Indian 2000 Guineas are run unravelling a finish such as the one seen on Sunday.
The post race analysis would point out facts that a threat to Set Alight’s dominance is certainly in the offing. The colts/geldings here in Mumbai are sure to make a fight of it and trainer Pesi Shroff may not exactly spend sleepless nights, but will surely be finding the need to make notes and muster thoughts of how he can keep his supreme reigning queen filly ahead of the males that are getting better and better by the day. Now, Autonomy may not be the only threat. Over the extended trip, Dancing Dynamite is sure to fancy his chances, although Autonomy would be even stronger over the extended trip if the judgement of Hughes who rode him is to be believed. The men who rode Smart Chieftan to victory in 2000 had this to say – “Smart Chieftan was a mile and a quarter horse; but this (Autonomy) is a purely mile-and-a-half-horse”. Then there is also Fleeting Arrow who came from the dead to be noticed in the judge’s frame. His run too, though not as exceptional, is worthy of mention and begs to be taken into account over the longer distance.
Trainers Bezan Chinoy and Mansoor Shah are old hands at training horses. Both will surely go all the way to develop the visible talent of their respective wards. They will fine-tune them with the single mission in mind – The McDowell Indian Derby (Gr 1) in five weeks time. Fleeting Arrow is now better equipped what with a solid run in the Guineas behind him. Icebreaker would fancy her chances as well, more due to the performance of Fleeting Arrow whom she beat decisively in the Poonawalla Bangalore Derby. However, I am still inclined to stay loyal to the Set Alight who I believe is the best of the crop of 2005, if not of all times.
