Vijay Damini Walks away with The Alcock Arabian Stakes |
It was a glorious day for jockey P.S. Chouhan, who booted home five winners at Hyderabad on Sunday. Chouhan has been riding with great confidence of late and he is determined to give Imran Khan a run for his money in the jockey’s championship. Four of the wins came from Vittal Deshmukh’s stable and one from Ananth Vatsalya’s.
Vijayraaj made amends for his earlier failures with an impressive strike in the Delhi Race Club Trophy. The fact that Vijayraaj runs best when ridden in check was best utilized by Chouhan. Raj Veer and Spot On were involved in a duel, early on the straight. While Spot On started to lose steam, and Raj Veer was beginning to improve in front, Vijayraaj came with a flourish to land the spoils. Al Fatah was permitted to be withdrawn. The Green and Gold ‘V’ colour of Col. S.B. Nair was ridden to victory by P.S. Chouhan in the first two races of the day. The ‘on-money’ Sweet Heart started the day, winning the Grace and Strength Plate. Kansas City Mac tried to make every post a winning one in the 2400-metre trip and Chouhan had to work hard on Sweet Heart, to pass the leader and win by half a length. Celestina won the higher division of the Prince Khartoum Plate with yet another gusty ride from Chouhan. Royal Shaan ran a forward race and brought the field into the straight but packed up in a trifle. Three horses, Celestina, Senorita and My Tyson made their move precisely at the same juncture, inside the final furlong and it was Celestina who prevailed by half a length from My Tyson. Senorita finished third ahead of Lambourn. D’Silva’s Walnut Creek came out of his maiden rank with an eye-catching run in the lower division. Rounding the final bend, Walnut Creek shot ahead and opened a four length lead over the others. Vijay Trishul and Esperanza made their bid but found the winner better and finished second and third respectively. Ananth Vatsalya’s Zambo Anga picked up speed in the last 100 metres and vanquished the field to lift the M.C.E.M.E. Rolling Cup. Vendetta, Royal Tune and Fire Bender filled the frame in a close finish. Prasad Raju’s Flaming Ruby was ridden to victory by Imran Khan in the lower division of the 1 EME Centre Rolloing Cup. Taking over the running near the 800 metres, Flaming Ruby kept at bay the efforts of Light Brigade. A mishap near the 800 metres brought down three riders from their mounts. Chamatkar clipped Flaming Ruby and stumbled thereby dropping the rider Deep Shanker. Alukkhas, who was racing close by and Ivory Snow, who was just behind got interfered and the riders came crashing down. All the three jockeys were lucky to get away with minor bruises. Caligatae, who was on a start-to-finish mission, failed to hold on to the lead when Yippee unleashed a run widest of all to get the higher division close to the winning post. Caligatae lost the runner-up berth also to Golden Flame. Indian Army had established a sizable lead in the concluding race but could not convert that to a win. Pacific Groove nearly flew from ninth position in the last 100 metres to breeze past and win. |
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