And
the son of Placerville out of Stunning reduced it to just that after B. Prakash took the joint property of Dr M. A. M.Ramaswamy and Zavaray
Poonawalla to front and dared his eight rivals to catch him. Leave alone
challenging the S. Ganapathy trained celebrity, none of the eight horses
in the line up were in fact able to disturb Southern Empire’s shadow. It
was total domination right from the word go till Prakash stood up in the
stirrups near the winning post and waved to the gallery.
Rococo came from way back to take second ahead of Bravissima. Portrush went
short of stamina after coming home through the shortest way and was
relegated to the fourth spot.
Ramaswamy’s camp had two more winners on the day in Ruben Star and Allanridge.
Ruben Star (Placerville – Forest Fantasy), who reeled out two absolutely
pathetic runs earlier, finally came good in his third attempt. Irishman Colm O’Donoghue worked hard on him to gain the upper hand from Beyond
Belief which he eventually managed with a fair degree of comfort. There
was an inexplicable drift in the odds of Bright Side but nothing could
be made of it since she was jostled by the winner at a very crucial
stage of the race before finishing runner-up. Beyond Belief ended up a
fair third with the luckless Samarkhand ending fourth. It is reported
that the owners and the trainer of Samarkhand have lodged a complaint
against jockey K. P. G. Appu astride Morpheus for deliberately hampering
the running of their horse after Malesh Narredu confirmed their doubt.
Allanridge (Alnasr Alwasheek – Classical Elegance) found that extra bit
of vigour when persuaded by B. Prakash and went on to overwhelm Desert
Dust and The Praetorian close home. Earlier, Desert Dust assumed control
of the running from joint favourite Beau Monde with The Praetorian
looking large on his outside. Apprentice D. K. Ashish faltered in
failing to keep control of his horse which veered out and gave
Allanridge the window of opportunity Prakash was looking for. Master
Planner ran an uninterested fourth and could have better prospects in
his future outing.
Malesh Narredu driven Fiery Fortune (Hymn – Sparkling Champagne) from
Magansingh Jodha’s yard scored a quick encore when he moved with
gigantic strides in the straight and wore down favourite Red Apache, who
ran a lacklustre race. Saarah was her energetic self as usual and ended
a close second with Simply Smashing moving in to finish a late third.
Irishman Niall McCullagh seemed to be out of form on the big day while
C. Rajendra booted home a solitary through debutant Alvarita (Jade
Robbery – Shanley). The Imtiaz Sait trained filly followed Enceladus and
Luck Factor until entering the straight and where Rajendra signalled her
to take charge. Alvarita swooped down on the leaders and it was no
contest thereafter. Festive Light lost precious ground when taken out by
Luck Factor nearer home yet was not disgraced in this defeat.
Imtiaz led in another winner in quick succession when Mischief In His
Eyes ((Major Impact – Stars In Her Eyes) overcame the challenge of
favourite Balance De Power. Harish had to employ his skills for the
second time on this horse to gain victory. Wall Street had an easy
outing when finishing third ahead of Gaea, who too seemed to be enjoying
being away from the limelight.
Bezan Chenoy’s candidate Adam’s Star (Placerville – Mitzvah) scored a
major upset when he outwitted his stable-mate Agha virtually on the
post. Jockey Aadesh Kumar showed some uncharacteristic aggression when
throwing a challenge at the T. S. Jodha ridden Agha. Flashing Star came
with long ranging strides to finish third and was given too much to do
in the straight after lying at the wrong end of the field till the final
bend. Oyster Cove ran fifth without taking any stress and should be
watched closely in his next endeavour.
Flying Rani (Fly So Free – Winning Spurs) also shocked the followers of
form when the Dallas Todywalla nursed filly was powerfully steered by
Harish to collar Struie in the dying moments of the race. Struie was
being hailed as the winner after she ended the flattery of both
Something About Her and Nanjing before it had barely begun.
Hormuz Antia had a silent coup on Opium (Alnasr Alwasheek – Iquique) who
proved to be more potent than the favourite Cocaine. The Vikram Jodha
ridden mare came with raking strides to end the start to finish mission
of the favourite, who was further relegated by the bottom-weighted
Tafeta. The runner-up needs galloping ground and should earn her corn
bill in this same age group sooner rather than later.
