JOIN USNothing excites a horse-racing fan more than an open race. And when that open race is the richest race of the Indian racing calendar -- the Kingfisher Derby -- the excitement increases ten-fold.
Seventeen horses will vie for the richest purse in Indian horse racing history -- a total stake money of Rs 2,36,80,000. The winner will be richer by a massive Rs 1,42,08,000. No surprises then that the best three-year olds of the summer season will run on Sunday at the Bangalore Turf Club.
But the week-long delay, owing to the strike called by the syces that forced the postponement of the race originally scheduled for July 10, has accounted for one major casualty. Speed Six, the early favourite, fractured his right shin bone, forcing the Mallya camp and trainer S Padmanabhan to withdraw the colt and leaving the race even more open, if that was possible.
Going by form, the winners of the Colts Championship Stakes and Fillies Championship Stakes jump into contention immediately. Pronto Pronto edged Speed Six by a nose in the mile-long race a couple of weeks back, and will most probably start out as the favourite.
The Imtiaz Sait-trained horse took home the Colts Championship primarily because of the experience shown by jockey YS Srinath, who guided the colt beautifully down the straight. Srinath will again take the reins and will have a major task at hand in fighting the heavy traffic, having drawn the last gate.
“I have no worries about the draw. Srinath is experienced enough and I’m sure that we can do well,” Sait said. Lovely Kiss, to be ridden by Suraj Narredu -- fresh from his tryst in America -- could very well make it two filly Derby winners in two years after horse-of-the-year Moonlight Romance trounced the opposition in last year’s Derby. Samar-Singh-trained Lovely Kiss won impressively in the Fillies Championship, and looks primed to challenge the top colts.
The horses that came in third and fourth in the Colts Championship -- Severstahl and Star Marquess -- are also equally capable of pulling off a win. Severstahl finished a commendable third despite having lost a shoe early on and Star Marquess was the fastest finisher, pointing to the fact that the colt might be more suited to the longer distance.
Padmanabhan, having had to withdraw Speed Six, will now look at Preordained to give him another Derby victory. The filly was to be ridden by top British professional Martin Dwyer, but since the jockey is not going to fly out this weekend, the responsibility will fall on S John.
Hyderabad contender Super Duper, trained by LVR Deshmukh and to be ridden by PS Chouhan, is an outside chance. Having had an outstanding start in Hyderabad, the colt has tailed off in the last two races in Bangalore, but on his day is easily capable of beating the rest of the field.
Another factor which could throw all predictions out of the window will be the condition of the track after Saturday’s heavy rains. The horse that can handle the heavy course will most probably go on to garner the richest ever purse in Indian racing to date.
DERBY DAY CARD
1. chennai cup (div ii) (rated 40-65) -- 1200m: 12.30 pm
1. Spark Of Harmony (Pradeep) 60 Afsar 5
2. Sparkling Cat (Narayana Gowda) 60 B Sreekanth 6
3. Royal Fortune (Samar Singh) 58.5 Ch K Chary 8
4. Capote (Dhariwal) 57.5 Srinath 7
5. Oceanic Wind (Lokanath) 57.5 P Trevor 2
6. Super Gold (Inayathulla) 57.5 Vivek 4
7. Show Time (I Ghatala) 57 Suraj Narredu 9
8. All Rise (Babu Rao) 56 Shivakumar 3
9. Take My Word (Sharat K) 54.5 N Rajesh 1
Capote 1; Royal Fortune 2; Show Time 3.
2. mumbai cup (div ii) (rated 60-85) -- 1400m: 1.00 pm
1. One Life To Love (Byramji) 60 Srinath 2
2. Atlas Power (Sharat K) 59 H Rathod 5
3. Enduring Star (Faraz Arshad) 59 KG Steyn 1
4. Aztec Gold (Neil Darashah) 58.5 L Stephane 3
5. In The Zone (Amit Caddy) 58.5 Shivakumar 4
6. Current Ray (Dhariwal) 57.5 Neeraj Rawal 9
7. Ice Mint (Sharat K) 57.5 PS Chouhan 8
8. Indian Bolt (Inayathulla) 57.5 Ch K Chary 7
9. Mr Ambassador (Narayana Gowda) 57.5 Z Sayyed 6
One Life To Love 1; Current Ray 2; Aztec Gold 3.
3. hyderabad cup (terms) -- 1200m: 1.35 pm
1. Golden Viper (S Narredu) 56 Suraj Narredu 11
2. Inquisition (D Byramji) 56 Shivakumar 12
3. Magnetic Power (Narayana Gowda) 56 B Sreekanth 2
4. Rise To Glory (Dominic) 56 Merchant 5
5. Sound Of Power (Mahesh) 56 Ashhad Asbar 4
6. Suneru (S Komandur) 56 Neeraj Rawal 9
7. Aegis (Deshmukh) 54.5 PS Chouhan 6
8. Aspect Of Love (Ganapathy) 54.5 Gallagher 3
9. Flying Snow (A Mangalorkar) 54.5 Appu 1
10. Klipspringer (Padmanabhan) 54.5 L Stephane 7
11. Sunraider (Neil Darashah) 54.5 P Trevor 10
12. Vijays Rose (Laxman S) 54.5 A Imran K 8
Klipspringer 1; Aspect Of Love 2; Aegis 3.
4. mumbai cup (div i) (rated 60-85) -- 1400m: 2.10 pm
1. Caspian Sea (Byramji) 60 DK Ashish 5
2. Deep Blue Sky (S Narredu) 59.5 Appu 2
3. Camorra (S Attaollahi) 59 Harish 9
4. Gazaki (D Byramji) 59 PS Chouhan 3
5. Dance N Celebrate (Nityanand) 58 N Rajesh 8
6. Captain’s Lover (Prithviraj) 57.5 Jagadeesh 6
7. Six Shooter (Sharat K) 57.5 Md Ghous 1
8. Sun Absolute (I Ghatala) 57 Suraj Narredu 7
9. Celestial Son (Neil Darashah) 56.5 Prabhakaran 4
Gazaki 1; Sun Absolute 2; Deep Blue Sky 3.
5. mysore cup (div I) (rated 20-45) -- 1400m: 2.45 pm
1. Bid For Glory (Amit Caddy) 62.5 VR de Sousa 10
2. Bloody Mary (L D’Silva) 62.5 A Imran K 5
3. Pronto Star (IA Sait) 62.5 Srinath 6
4. Castro (S Attaollahi) 60 R Marshall 3
5. Hockenheim (D Byramji) 59.5 PS Chouhan 9
6. Free Styler (Ganapathy) 58.5 I Chisty 7
7. Hillstone (I Ghatala) 58 Suraj Narredu 12
8. Sunday Storm (Padmanabhan) 57.5 N Ganesh 4
9. Vijays Jet (Laxman S) 56.5 B Prakash 2
10. Allegro (Sharat K) 55 Irvan Singh 8
11. Sparkling Image (Prithviraj) 55 Kiran Rai 11
12. Whisper In Town (S Narredu) 52.5 DK Ashish 1
Vijays Jet 1; Pronto Star 2; Sunday Storm 3.
6. kolkata cup (rated 80 & above) -- 1800m: 3.20 pm
1. Shotgunn (A Mangalorkar) 61 S John 3
2. Cavalry Charge (S Attaollahi) 59 Harish 8
3. Doi Moi (N Cama) 59 Neeraj Rawal 6
4. Sparks (Neil Darashah) 59 Ch K Chary 4
5. Criminal Lawyer (I Ghatala) 56 B Paswan 5
6. Topkapi (Padmanabhan) 54 L Stephane 2
7. Yas Marina (D Byramji) 53 PS Chouhan 7
6. Sunspirit (I Ghatala) 52.5 KG Steyn 1
9. Flaming Lamborgini (S Narredu) 50 Krishnan 9
Topkapi 1; Doi Moi 2; Yas Marina 3.
7. kingfisher derby bangalore (grade i) (terms) -- 2000m: 4.00 pm
1. Lad King (Neil Darashah) 56 L Stephane 10
2. Pronto Pronto (IA Sait) 56 Srinath 18
3. Saratoga Spring (S Narredu) 56 Appu 14
4. Severstahl (Dominic) 56 A Imran K 11
5. Silver Springs (L D’Silva) 56 Ch K Chary 12
-. Speed Six (Padmanabhan) 56 -- -
7. Star Marquess (Ganapathy) 56 Gallagher 15
8. Super Duper (Deshmukh) 56 PS Chouhan 3
9. Tiberius (I Ghatala) 56 B Prakash 8
10. Vijaykeerti (Deshmukh) 56 R Marshall 6
11. African Queen (S Attaollahi) 54.5 Vinod Shinde 2
12. At The Helm (D Byramji) 54.5 DK Ashish 13
13. Forever Glory (Ganapathy) 54.5 I Chisty 17
14. Lovely Kiss (Samar Singh) 54.5 Suraj Narredu 5
15. Magnitude (Ganapathy) 54.5 AM Tograllu 1
16. Nearness Of You (Padmanabhan) 54.5 P Trevor 4
17. Preordained (Padmanabhan) 54.5 S John 9
18. Romantique (IA Sait) 54.5 Neeraj Rawal 7
Pronto Pronto 1; Lovely Kiss 2; Star Marquess 3.
8. chennai cup (div I) (rated 40-65) -- 1200m: 4.40 pm
1. Endurance (Narayana Gowda) 61 KG Steyn 1
2. On A Roll (Sharat K) 58.5 Irvan Singh 9
3. Youre Chilubuli (Pradeep) 57 T Bernard 8
4. I Specialist (Dhariwal) 56.5 PS Chouhan 4
5. Affirmative (Faraz Arshad) 55.5 Gallagher 7
6. Win Again (Sirajuddin) 55.5 A Imran K 6
7. Enduring Speed (Britto) 55 R Bharath 5
8. Stringsofmyheart (IA Sait) 55 Srinath 2
9. Anacostia (L D’Silva) 54.5 I Chisty 3
Anacostia 1; Stringsofmyheart 2; I Specialist 3.
9. delhi cup (rated 20-45) -- 1600m: 5.20 pm
1. Southern King (Sharat Kumar) 62.5 A Imran K 1
2. Savvy Concept (A Mangalorkar) 61 S John 12
3. Sarang (Puttanna) 60.5 Jagadeesh 8
4. Sun Gold (Inayathulla) 59 B Sreekanth 7
5. Hamsafar (Dhariwal) 58.5 N Rajesh 3
6. Legend Reborn (Amit Caddy) 57.5 Vivek 6
7. Beautiful Life (Lokanath) 57 Srinath 5
8. Halo Of Reverence (Faraz Arshad) 54.5 KG Steyn 11
9. Not Not Seven (Britto) 53.5 Khurshad A 2
10. Champs Elysees (S Narredu) 53 R Koch 9
11. Native Indian (Mahesh) 53 N Imam 4
12. Cowboy Cal (Prasanna K) 52.5 Vaideeshwaran 10
Sarang 1; Beautiful Life 2;
Southern King 3.
10. mysore cup (div ii) (rated 20-45) -- 1400m: 6.00 pm
1. Mad About You (D Byramji) 60 PS Chouhan 8
2. Bounty Hunter (Amit Caddy) 57.5 VR de Sousa 11
3. Smooth Glider (Sharat K) 55.5 H Rathod 9
4. Jack O Lantern (Dominic) 55 Khurshad A 7
5. Magic Wave (Hidayat K) 55 Vivek 3
6. Star Is Born (Dr Anil K) 55 S John 2
7. Equanimity (Narayana Gowda) 54 P Trevor 6
8. Fantastic Strike (Ganapathy) 54 AM Tograllu 10
9. Miss Ching (Neil Darashah) 53.5 Ch K Chary 4
10. Alpharetta (S Narredu) 52.5 DK Ashish 5
11. Didhitee (Mahesh) 52.5 Ashhad Asbar 12
12. Sayyonee (Md Khan) 52.5 Shivakumar 1
Star Is Born 1; Smooth Glider 2; Miss Ching 3.
Day’s best: Klipspringer.
Double: One Life To Love and Star Is Born.
Jackpot: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. I mini-jackpot: 2, 4, 6, 8. II mini-jackpot: 3, 5, 7, 9. I treble: 4, 5, 6. II treble: 8, 9, 10.
Exacta pool: 5, 7, 9, 10.