Awesome Fighter Scores an Encore
By Pearcey

Mysore, Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Last outing winner Awesome Fighter made light of his winning penalty and romped home to a comfortable victory in The Stewards Cup, the feature in a packed card of eight events on Wednesday at Mysore. For a horse who had scored his first win at the age of five, and that too in the lowest class, today's performance was truly "awesome". In a little over 12 months, this was the fifth time that Awesome Fighter was entering the winner's enclosure. For trainer Bipin Salvi, who had taken charge of this runner only a few months ago, it was two-out-of-two this season. He has done extremely well with this six year-old and turned him into an astute gallopper. The improvement cannot be measured in real terms as both the wins have been identical. Awesome Fighter has led from the start and raced well within himself while extending the margin in both his victories. He was fancied strongly by the stable, and started as a joint favourite alongside Kishore-trained Dutch Hero. The latter received support on the basis of his close second to Beauty On Duty. The fact that Beauty On Duty had won again on promotion, enhanced Dutch Hero's chances today.

 
Indiarace.com
Trainer Bipin V Salvi leading Awesome Fighter (LadjadjStephane Up), winner of The Steward Cup
 
The early pace in this race was moderate, with jockey Stephane taking Awesome Fighter into an early lead ahead of Time Is Precious, Lyra and Chief The Mission. On the other hand, jockey Chandrasekhar was seen struggling to keep Dutch Hero under control. The pair of them suffered because of the jockey's manoeuvres. Finding little room on the inside, the jockey decided to alter his course. Dutch Hero was pulled towards the outside and was made to travel the widest of all. He traversed more ground than the metric mile and disappointed his supporters by finishing in the ruck. Awesome Fighter kept getting stronger in front and was eased up a little before the winning post, to score from Lyra, Chief De Mission and a late finishing Final Frontier. The handicapper is bound to come down heavily on the winner, but that may not stop Awesome Fighter from progressing further.

This success enabled Bipin to complete a double for the day, as he had already won the earlier race with Live It Up. The mare was carrying the top weight in a seven-furlong handicap for horses in Class IV. The strong support that she received in the ring was an indication of her well being. Live It Up was known to possess an ability to win this event. With no-hopers Vertical Limit and Queen Of Destiny setting a fast pace, the other runners led by World Is Toomuch were content to stay at the back. The moment the leaders shot their bolt, jockey Appu rushed World Is Toomuch to the front and charged for home. Royal View and Live It Up went in chase, and the gap between the three of them began to diminish with each passing moment. To the relief of her numerous supporters, Mark ridden Live It Up got up on the last stride and scored by a neck from World Is Toomuch. Royal View ended a close third.

The other professional to score more than once was trainer Sharavanan. The two horses that scored for his stable were Latin Twister and Arrow Of Light. Latin Twister won the first race of the day. In an open betting event, Chouhan-ridden Destiny's Wish was a marginal favourite ahead of the eventual winner. It was difficult to understand this support for Destiny's Wish. She had struggled while ending last of nine in her previous start. She performed similarly today. Despite the rider's desperate urgings, she refused to improve and finished off the board. In the meantime, Latin Twister moved up at the bend and sailed past a helpless Analika. Mahesh rode a neat race on this winner.

Arrow Of Light was one of the lesser fancied runners in a mile race for horses in the highest class. There was no doubt about his ''Class" as he had run against the best at Hyderabad. The only worry was the trip. Arrow Of Light was known to be a sprinter, as he had never won beyond six furlongs. The extra 400 metres and the presence of apprentice Adarsh did little to recommend his chances. On the basis of his staying abilities, Boston Ranger received late support to start as a marginal favourite ahead of the rest. With Boston Ranger losing all his chances by getting knocked around at the start, it was easy to visualize an upset in this race. However, not many expected to witness what eventually happened. Arrow Of Light emerged from the leading group and cantered away to an easy victory ahead of Needofthehour and Amazing One. His rider looked as shocked as the onlookers. The winner paid a whopping 66/1 at the totalizators.

Darashah's Behram produced a vastly improved performance by carrying a back-breaking weight to a resolute victory in a nine furlong race for horses in Class IV. There were many who doubted this three year-old's ability to win today. The bookmakers installed him as a 6/4 favourite, but in no time, the odds against this runner more than doubled to 7/2. Ravi Shankar's Classic Concept received all-round support to start as the first choice of the punters. Appu rode a nice race on Behram. He tracked Roto Rooa till the bend before alerting his mount. Behram responded gamely and began narrowing the gap with the leader. He lengthened his strides thereafter, and strode away to a comfortable victory. Behram seemed to love this trip and the veteran trainer is bound to exploit him again. Roto Rooa plodded along to retain her second spot ahead of Swiss Chocolate.

Last outing winner Feel My Heart was another one to score an encore. This runner from Sajid's yard had won his previous start by finishing marginally ahead of Sterling Speed. The two runners were clashing once again, and this time the weights favoured the latter. However, the connections of Feel My Heart were hoping for a repeat performance. Their choice had won despite rearing up and losing ground at the start on that occasion. To their delight, Feel My Heart took a brilliant jump from his innermost draw and led into the straight. Under the relentless urgings of Ravinder Singh, Feel My Heart sustained his efforts and warded off a belated challenge from Sun Device. Record Time took the third spot ahead of a tired Sterling Speed.

The day ended with a popular victory for Appachu's Nermai. A winner in Bangalore, this five year-old had been relocated to Mysore at the end of the Winter Season. He had been beaten on the post by Champion's League in his first start at this centre. The trainer decided to alter his style of running today. He asked apprentice Praveen to go to the front. Nermai apparently loved these tactics, as he made every post a winning one and strode away from a hard-ridden Rich Rogue and Mr Hurricane.

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