Rain threatened to throw a major spanner in Be Safe’s plans but the overwhelming favourite rose to the challenge in brilliant fashion, romping home to a commanding victory in the Kingfisher Derby Bangalore here on Sunday.
The three-year-old colt, who has been in sparkling form over the last six months and was tipped to come good in the Rs 2.4 crore blue riband event by even his rivals, ran a very well-calculated race on a rain-soaked Bangalore Turf Club track to stamp his status as one of the big horses to watch for.
Anchored brilliantly by top jockey Suraj Narredu, the nephew of Mallesh Narredu who trained the colt, Be Safe powered to victory in 2:12.44, a good five and a quarter lengths ahead of Culebra (Srinath astride) in the 2000-metre long race.
Tiger Tops (S Zervan up) came third while Bold Majesty, ridden by JH Christopher, finished fourth.
Having registered a thumping victory in last month’s Colts Championship, a key build-up event, and a weak 12-horse field to contend with, there was very little doubt about Be Safe’s victory.
However, mother nature had her own plans of making the event an interesting one, the heavy rain in the morning and the continuous drizzle right throughout the day leaving Mallesh and Suraj wondering what ploy to employ.
Coming out of Gate 4, Suraj chose to go for a sedate start, staying with the pack while rank outsider Supreme Dominator, piloted by DK Ashish, went about setting the early pace.
Tiger Tops shot into a slender lead around the second bend, engaging itself into an early tussle with Supreme Dominator and Connemara until the third bend.
All the while, Suraj kept Be Safe within the bunch before unleashing him in destructive fashion over the final straight. Switching gears rapidly, Suraj cut in Be Safe from the inside with 400 metres left to take the lead before stepping on the accelerator to open up a sizeable lead. Thereafter, he was just uncatchable as the rest watched it blaze away to victory.
“When it rained in the morning I was very apprehensive,” said a delighted Mallesh who presented Be Safe owner Dr MAM Ramaswamy his 582nd classic victory.
“The track was wet and dead and we had to completely change our strategy that we had planned for.
“In wet conditions, sedate starts may backfire as track conditions are slippery and plenty of effort goes at the beginning itself. But Suraj rode him brilliantly.
He just showed why he is one of the top jockeys in the country. This win would not have been possible without my team, by elder brother Satish and very importantly, Dr MAM Ramaswamy sir for giving me a chance to train Be Safe.”
A delighted Suraj lavished praise on Be Safe. “Ever since I rode him first I was extremely confident about him. Having assessed the conditions from experience, I decided to stay along and then open up. He just followed the instructions to the hilt. All credit to Be Safe,” added Suraj.