Toroloco outguns opposition
Ghatala ward finishes way ahead of Nearness Of You as favourites fade away
Irfan Ghatala won his second straight Bangalore Winter Derby as his ward Toroloco romped home in the season’s biggest event on a rather sober day at the Bangalore Turf Club on Friday.
PS Chouhan piloted the Vikram and Nirmal Singh-owned colt brilliantly over the straight to take home the cash prize of Rs 32,70,000. Outside bet Nearness Of You, trained by S Padmanabhan, came in second while Hyderabad horse Golden Rule (Stephane Pasquier up) took third. Favourites Forever Glory (CD Hayes up) and Maddox, steered by YS Srinath, disappointed the punters, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
“It was a really slow run race and my only worry was if Toroloco would get caught up in the middle bunch and get clipped,” an elated Ghatala, who won last year with Sun Kingdom, said after the race. “But Chouhan rode him well and I’m really happy with the victory.” Toroloco won in a time of 2:35.35.
After the first five races were completed on a sleepy Derby day, Ganapathy-trained Forever Glory and Neil Darashah-ward Maddox, expectedly, opened up as the two favourites.
Forever Glory was the first favourite with odds of 5/2 while Maddox was not far behind at 17/4. Toroloco was not being heavily backed, doubts over the colt’s ability to stay the distance leading to him closing on 8/1. Ghatala’s other horse in the field, Zultanite, showed better odds of 6/1.
Pacesetter Gold Venture, the stablemate of Forever Glory, took up the running with Maddox and Absolut Grey tucking in right behind. Forever Glory was nicely placed in fourth while Toroloco was running sixth.
As the horses reached the halfway mark, the positions hardly differed, the favourites waiting for the final bend to make their move.
That move came right at the straight, with Summer Derby winner Srinath urging Maddox on. CD Hayes also made his move on Forever Glory and it looked as if it was going to be a straight shootout between the favourites as the pacesetters fell behind. But with 800 metres to go, Toroloco and Golden Rule made their move on the outside, the former putting on a brilliant burst to pull away from the middle group.
Soon after, any doubts about Toroloco not being able to stay the distance were immediately banished when the colt not only caught up effortlessy with the front pack, but coasted past Golden Rule and Maddox to take the lead which he would not relinquish. Nearness Of You (David Allan up), Golden Rule and Forever Glory finished together with the Padmanabhan ward taking second, a head ahead of Golden Rule but a massive three-and-a-half lengths behind the winner. Golden Rule, trained by Leo D’Silva, beat out Forever Glory to third by a short head.
“I think the biggest thing that went our way today was the pace of the race. It was perfect,” Chouhan observed. “I had absolutely no doubts about his staying power. I had ridden him in a mock race over the same distance and he showed no problems.
“The only thing that worried me was getting caught up in traffic. But the moment I told my horse to go for it, he galloped away and the result was never in doubt after that,” the Summer Season’s champion jockey added.
Results:
1. Nethravathi Trophy (Div II) -- 1400M: Young Achiever (Seraj Anwar & Yogesh Kumar’s) Suraj Narredu 1; Unique Show (Srinath) 2; Claara (I Chisty) 3; Red Hot (J Pradeep) 4; WB: 1-3/4, 5-1/2, 3/4L; T: 1:28.30; Tote: Rs 19w, Rs 12, Rs 16, Rs 23p; TB: S Narredu; Fav: Young Achiever; Fc: Rs 34; Q: Rs 36; SHP: Rs 40; Tri: Rs 173 and Rs 126.
2. Indian Republic Trophy -- 1400M: Hill Dioro (Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan & Waryam Singh rep Wadhawan Livestock Pvt Ltd’s) Suraj Narredu 1; Moves Goodenough (CD Hayes) 2; Sunstorm (Anjar Alam) 3; Magnitude Star (Srinath) 4; Not run: Yas Marina; WB: 1-3/4, 4-3/4, 1L; T: 1:26.64; Tote: Rs 13w, Rs 12, Rs 92p; TB: I Ghatala; Fav: Hill Dioro; Fc: Rs 141; Q: Rs 56; SHP: Rs 150; Tri: Rs 482 and Rs 143.
3. NRCE Cup -- 1400M: Borsalino (Mrs Sharmila Padmanabhan & S Padmanabhan rep Radiant Bloodstock Pvt Ltd & Byram N Jeejeebhoy rep Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Pvt Ltd’s) M Dwyer 1; Sandstorm (Anthony C) 2; Clever Trick (Srinath) 3; Knowledge (Vivek) 4; Not run: Super Storm; WB: 5-1/4, 3L, Long nk; T: 1:27.14; Tote: Rs 16w, Rs 11, Rs 13, Rs 34p; TB: Padmanabhan; Fav: Borsalino; Fc: Rs 26; Q: Rs 22; SHP: Rs 27; Tri: Rs 122 and Rs 96.
4. Bharachukki Cup -- 1200M: Flying Snow (Capt Jamshed J Appoo, Subir Dasgupta & Gautam Kotwal’s) M Dwyer 1; Bryant Park (Harish) 2; Sutton Prince (Ashok Kumar) 3; Right On Time (PS Chouhan) 4; Not run: Ibelieveinmiracles; WB: 7-1/2, 1-1/4, 2L; T: 1:14.95; Tote: Rs 32w, Rs 13, Rs 41, Rs 27p; TB: A Mangalorkar; Fav: Somerset Rose; Fc: Rs 664; Q: Rs 252; SHP: Rs 159; Tri: Rs 3,641 and Rs 1,320; Exp: Rs 9,966 and Rs 2,848.
5. Nethravathi Trophy (Div I) -- 1400M: Rappadan Glory (Capt Jamshed J Appoo’s) Appu 1; Ibelieveinmiracles (Suraj Narredu) 2; The Jaguar (Kiran Rai) 3; Apollo King (S Selvaraj) 4; WB: 1-1/4, 1/2, 4L; T: 1:29.10; Tote: Rs 48w, Rs 16, Rs 12, Rs 31p; TB: Nityanand; Fav: Ibelieveinmiracles; Fc: Rs 94; Q: Rs 27; SHP: Rs 42; Tri: Rs 345 and Rs 229.
6. Bangalore Derby (Grade I) -- 2400M: Toroloco (Vikram Singh & Nirmal Singh’s) PS Chouhan 1; Nearness Of You (David Allan) 2; Golden Rule (S Pasquier) 3; Forever Glory (CD Hayes) 4; WB: 3-1/2L, Hd, Sh; T: 2:35.65; Tote: Rs 115w, Rs 31, Rs 47, Rs 55p; TB: I Ghatala; Fav: Forever Glory; Fc: Rs 3,397; Q: Rs 2,724; SHP: Rs 145; Tri: Rs 43,050 and Rs 6,007; Exp: Rs 60,373 and Rs 15,524.
7. Vidhana Soudha Cup (Div I) -- 1400M: Smart Exotic (Usman Faheed F, Faraz Arshad & Vikram Singh’s) S Fargeat 1; Fist Of Rage (Jagadeesh) 2; Kripa (Noornabi) 3; Sun Dancing (Anjar Alam) 4; WB: 3/4, 1-1/2, 1/2L; T: 1:28.13; Tote: Rs 80w, Rs 25, Rs 38, Rs 33p; TB: Faraz Arshad; Fav: Indravati; Fc: Rs 1,561; Q: Rs 292; SHP: Rs 122; Tri: Rs 4,508 and Rs 1,691; Exp: Rs 48,696 and Rs 20,869.
8. Mysore Race Club Trophy -- 1600M: String Along (Dr MAM Ramaswamy’s) CD Hayes 1; Immense (S John) 2; Spearhead (Anthony C) 3; Midtown Magic (PS Chouhan) 4; WB: 1, 1-3/4L, Nk; T: 1:38.73; Tote: Rs 124w, Rs 30, Rs 14, Rs 20p; TB: Ganapathy; Fav: Immense; Fc: Rs 263; Q: Rs 147; SHP: Rs 44; Tri: Rs 684 and Rs 262.
9. Vidhana Soudha Cup (Div II) -- 1400M: Thrillseeker (PS Ranganathan, Mrs Veena Malhotra, R Neelakandan & G Vinay Kumar’s) Prabhakaran 1; Sunset Grill (Anjar Alam) 2; Mark Of Genius (P Mani) 3; Emerald (S John) 4; 1-3/4, 1, 4-1/2L; T: 1:27.48; Tote: Rs 70w, Rs 23, Rs 20, Rs 34p; TB: Neil Darashah; Fav: Amazer; Fc: Rs 266; Q: Rs 160; SHP: Rs 57; Tri: Rs 5,714 and Rs 3,673; Exp: Rs 16,396 and Rs 6,324.
Jackpot: Rs 339,214 (3). Runners: Rs 10,143 (43). Mini-jackpot: Rs 2,379 (24). I treble: Rs 200 (152). II treble: Rs 46,206 (1).
