Star Trainer was not only well-supported as on-money choice to win the seven-furlong race for three year-old maidens, but was also so well-prepared by Antia that Imran Chisty didn't have to move a muscle until he passed the front-runner Avon Creek soon after crossing the two-furlong marker. And when Chisty urged him to consolidate lead, the Storm Trooper - Tiddly Widdly colt bounded away to an impressive seven-and-a-half-length victory over Freany (Dasrath Singh up).
|
Be that as it may, Absolute Reality at no stage posed any threat to either Native Strategy, who led until the 200-metre marker, or to eventual winner Rose Bowl. Although Rose Bowl's margin of victory was two lengths, the fact that Prakash had to put all his vigour to overpower Native Strategy begs a place for the runner-up in your notebook. He should be able to see the winner's circle in Pune sooner than later.
Antia's next winner was Any Time Money that was rather lucky to find himself returning to the winner's enclosure. He too was entrusted to B Prakash, but even with the ace rider's support, Any Time Money just about managed to prevail by a nose from the fast-finishing Game Of Power (A Sandesh up) who pegged back Amaranza (Neeraj Rawal up) by a neck, to send a three-horse photo for the judge's opinion. Interestingly, the four oldest horses in the race finished on the board as first four, their ages ranging from 7 to 12 years.
Luck continued to smile on the trainer when Sea Wonder, who was clearly not fancied enough to attract the heavy stable money, still went on to win the last race of the card that was named after S A Wahid, the Bangalore-based jockey who died in a tragic air crash some years ago. For a stable that landed a well-supported popular treble, lack of support for Sea Wonder, despite being ridden by the owner's first jockey Imran Chisty, was naturally interpreted by the public as negative signal, and that sent the Antia ward's odds racing to 8 to 1. But the filly lived up to the 'wonder' in her name when she hit the front from the word go, opened a five-length gap, and stayed out of reach of all her rivals till passing the winning post.
On Sunday, Antia added to his Saturday's success by winning two important trophy races: the upper division of the Prive Equine Racing Excellence Trophy and the lower division of the Trainers Trophy.
What sets Hormuz Antia apart from most other trainers is he precisely knows what his strong point is and never steps outside his circle of competence. He is an expert at training horses for sprints only, and he never even ventures beyond his comfort zone. It is interesting to note that of the 223 runners he saddled during the season, Sea Angel, who finished third behind Secret Magic on Sunday, was the only horse that went over the mile; all the other 222 runners were sent out over sprints!
No wonder, Antia has one of the best favourites-won to favourites-lost ratios in the business, because he knows what he is doing when he prepares a horse for a sprint which is his strong suit.
Coming back to Saturday's three other races that were not won by the Antia-trained horses, the most engaging contest turned out to be between Saltoro and Cosmopolitan which resulted in a dead-heat for the first place in the Blue Ribbon Plate. There were only four runners in the fray, and barring long shot Taanush, the other three runners all had their share of supporters and hovered between 2-1 to 3-1 in the ring, Saltoro getting most of the money to be installed as the post time favourite. Taanush set the pace to Saltoro, Cosmopolitan and Misschiveous Trot who all raced in single file until the heads turned for home, at which stage Saltoro grabbed the lead. S Zervan astride Cosmopolitan too soon got busy with his hands and heels. Momentarily, it looked like Cosmopolitan would sail away, but just then C Rajendra on Saltoro produced that something extra, and the fight was undecided till they crossed the wire. The photo confirmed that resolution of even a thousandth part of a second could not separate the two, and a dead-heat was declared, adding yet another feather in the Official Handicapper's cap who has continued to excel season after season.
In the Summer Dust Plate, S Sunil gave cause to fluke hunters to shriek with joy when he steered the Faisal Abbas-trained Eagle Mountain to a narrow victory over Living The Dream and Sacred Relic near the post. Bullet, Shapoor Mistry's Major Impact - Euro Star colt trained by Imtiaz Sait, warmed the hearts of the followers of money and justified the miserly odds when Srinath had little to do on him, driving for a very comfortable victory in the 1,000-metre Adam's Glory Plate.
