Tanzanite Survives a Scare |
| Irfan Ghatala's money-back favourite Tanzanite survived a huge scare while winning The WT Craig Jones Memorial Gold Cup, the premier event in Wednesday's race card at Mysore. The reason for this filly being such a hot order was her early form after turning three. Tanzanite had raced against some of the top juveniles at Bangalore, and distinguished herself by running a brilliant race in The Fillies Trial Stakes during the Summer Season. She had finished close behind Mystic Quest on that occasion, and considering the fact that Mystic Quest had gone on to win The Mysore 1000 Guineas, today's Class III race looked like easy pickings for her. The subsequent form of the favourite had been a little below par and she had been under a cloud for the rest of that season. But her track trials indicated that she was back to her best, and therefore, the racegoers refused to look beyond her while making their choice. Last outing winner Youre A Stud and Lotus Pond were expected to save place money. Youre A Stud shot into an early lead and galloped fluently ahead of Tanzanite and Lotus Pond till the field entered the straight. The rest of the runners were totally outclassed and were steadily dropping out of contention. Youre A Stud maintained his lead over Tanzanite, while Lotus Pond mounted her challenge on the wide outside. Suraj was a picture of supreme confidence on Tanzanite, and most people expected the filly to gather momentum and run away from her opponents. Nothing of the sort happened. Despite Suraj's best efforts, she found it difficult to pass the leader. Lotus Pond was looming on the outside and the three runners were almost abreast as they entered the last fifty metres of the race. To the relief of Tanzanite's supporters, Youre A Stud and Lotus Pond began to shorten their strides at this stage. This resulted in the favourite scoring near the final post. A couple of half-lengths separated the first three runners. Tanzanite is bound to improve after this run. Lotus Pond looks like one of the best three year olds at Mysore and is expected to be a strong force during the local Winter Season. Padmanabhan's Becket finally got an opportunity to display his capabilities by running in an actual race. The nice looking colt had given indications of his brilliance while running in a mock race in the early stages of his career. He was immediately relocated to Mumbai to have a crack at the many plums on offer at that centre. The dark bay colt suffered a setback in training and never ran during that season. Becket was expected to be ready for the Summer action, but that was not to be. One reason or another, and his debut kept getting postponed. The Delhi Race Club Cup on Wednesday was finally selected as his first target. The style in which he won this race was truly inspiring. His fluent strides and smooth acceleration resulted in Becket scoring in the fastest time of the afternoon. A timing of less than One Minute and Twelve Seconds on debut is considered a top-class performance. High Gleam and Real Magic finished a distance behind the winner. Becket is headed for bigger laurels and much will be heard of this colt in the future. It was obvious that jockey Rajendra had come all the way from Mumbai to only check his true potential. The other impressive winner in the eight-event card was Warren Singh's A Run To Remember. The speedy mare tore away from the others to score stylishly from Burning Ambitions and Super Spear. She was expected to slow down in the last furlong of this mile race, but she was in no mood to do so. With apprentice Himanshu making free use of the whalebone, A Run To Remember scored by a little more than eight lengths at the wire. She was the fourth consecutive outsider to score in the first four races of the day. Suresh ridden Pancho Pete gave trainer Sharavanan his first winner in his two-week-old career. The eight-year-old horse succeeded in getting the better a much younger Cute Angel. The beaten filly was a hot favourite in this race. John decided to take her on a start-to-finish mission and led till she was nailed by the eventual winner. Pancho Pete was fortunate to get a clear run on the rails and was good enough to take it. This long priced winner set the trend for the day. The start of the second race saw favourite Buck Passer Junior turning around after jumping from the gates. This allowed the S Singh trained Sunday Best to score her maiden win. The small made filly was hard-ridden by Vivek to keep Way To Wealth at bay. Robert Foley's on-money favourite Celtic Heroine took a lot of money down the drain in the very next race of the day. Despite Prakash's strong urgings, the filly refused to raise a gallop. He belted her a couple of times before she got into her strides. The efforts turned out to be futile, as the favourite could do no better than finish close to the frame. Voodoo Moon was a surprise winner ahead of the ultra consistent Mister Trooper. Dickey-legged Jericho made a late bid to finish an impressive third. The speedy Join The Party showed a clean pair of heels to her opponents and won a sprint event for horses in Class II. Gaurav Sapra steered this winner for Amit Caddy. Favourite Valiant Bay and Spiritofexcellence were expected to run prominently, but the winner outclassed them. By virtue of this victory,Join The Party has got elevated to the highest Class. In his current form, the four-year-old is capable of scoring again. The day ended with some respite for the punters. Well-supported Boston Ranger was ridden to an easy victory in this mile event. John was able to hold back the Pratap Kamath trained horse till the final turn, before releasing the brakes on him. Boston Ranger lengthened his strides and scored effortlessly from Royal Hawk and Demanding. There was sustained support for the Rakesh owned and trained Our Lancer, but the horse galloped in snatches and finished off the board. |
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