Alaindair eyes crowing glory

Racing Indian Turf Invitation Cup

After the weathergods played spoilsport last weekend, the concluding portion of the Invitation Cup fiesta will be held here on Saturday, including the bumper race -- The Indian Turf Invitation Cup (Grade I) over 2400 metres.

After a sunny opening day on March 1, heavy rain lashed the Malakpet track last Sunday, leaving the organisers with no choice but to cancel the last four races. Those four races along with another four will be staged on Saturday with all eyes on heavy favourite Alaindair.

The Altamash A-trained geld, to be ridden by Srinath, is standing on the brink of achieving something special. With the wins at last year’s Bangalore Summer Derby and this season’s Indian Derby, the four-year old can join a select group of six horses to complete a treble of Bangalore Summer Derby, Indian Derby and Invitation Cup victories.

Generally such big events will have about 3-4 big attractions that would make it somewhat open but this time around  Alandair appears clear favourite, thanks to its blistering performance in the Indian Derby last month where it romped home in record time. 

Not only did it smash past an elite field but also ran a perfectly-executed race at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. However, things won’t be served on a platter with trainers getting an additional week to fine tune their strategies. Circle Of Bliss, to be ridden by DK Ashish and trained by Shroff, and Ganapthy-ward Murioi (B Sreekanth-up), which finished third and fourth at the Indian Derby respectively, have the potential to spring a surprise.
 The dark horse could be seasoned campaigner Tintinnabulation (I Chisty-up). The five-year-old geld, the reigning champion, is chasing its own piece of history in trying to become the first horse to defend its crown and with plenty of big race experience on its hand, the Deshmukh-ward could very well give the punters some headache on whom to place money on.
1. Palazzio Plate (Cat III, rtd upto 50) 1400M, 1.20 pm: 1. Princely Right 61.5 Ravinder Singh 3; 2. Roma Rouge 60 CS Jodha 5; 3. Princess Cruise 57 Christopher 9; 4. Nano Dame 54.5 AK Pawar 7; 5. Captain Nemo 54 Dashrath S 1; 6. Tamanna 54 Ashhad Asbar 10; 7. True Haven 54 J Vikas 2; 8. Graceland 53.5 NS Parmar 8; 9. Mount Titlis 53.5 I Chisty 4; 10. Qaisar E Hind 52 Deepak Singh 6.

Mount Titlis 1; Princess Cruise 2; Roma Rouge 3.

2. Good Fellas Plate (Cat II, rated upto 75) 1400M, 1.55 pm: 1. Decathlon 61 I Chisty 6; 2. Any Given Time 58 Ashhad Asbar 5; 3. Winds And Waves 58 Dashrath S 1; 4. Greek Star 53.5 K Anil 3; 5. Yet Again 53.5 Deep Shanker 11; 6. Kohinoor Desire 52.5 N Rawal 7; 7. Over Shadow 52.5 Kiran Naidu 12; 8. San Ramon 52.5 NS Parmar 2; 9. Dazzling Prince 51.5 Ravinder Singh 13; 10. Golden Missile 51 P Sai Kumar 14; 11. Cannon Ten 50.5 AK Pawar 4; 12. Field Commander 50.5 P Trevor 8; 13. Stolen Date 50.5 P Koushik 9; 14. Montauk 50 A Sandesh 10.

Decathlon 1; Winds And Waves 2; Field Commander 3.

3. Avalanche Star Plate (Cat III, rated upto 50) 1100M, 2.30 pm: 1. Bernabeu 62 CS Jodha 6; 2. Illustrator 62 Christopher 1; 3. Racing Queen 62 P Venkat 12; 4. Pakat Pakat Pakat 60 Kiran Naidu 7; 5. Dakshayani 59 Mukesh Kumar 5; 6. True Friend 57.5 B Dileep 10; 7. Dazzling Princess 57 J Vikas 8; 8. Flower Of Temba 56.5 P Trevor 4; 9. Garibaldi 56 CS Vikrant 3; 10. Arudra 55.5 Deepak S 11; 11. Novaya Zemlya 52.5 Nitin Singh 9; 12. Flower Drum 51.5 Akshay Kumar 14; 13. Golden Adagio 50.5 P Sai Kumar 13; 14. Care Less Love 50 Ashhad Asbar 2.

Pakat Pakat Pakat 1; Bernabeu 2; Racing Queen 3.

4. Maj PK Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup (Grade I) 1600M, 3.10 pm: 1. Always Blullish 59 Dashrath S 5; 2. Immense 59 A Sandesh 3; 3. Machiavellianism 59 I Chisty 2; 4.
 Ridgeway 59 C Alford 9; 5. Supreme Star 59 B Sreekant 12; 6. Equine Lover 57.5 David Allan 7; 7. Nasheeta 57.5 Ashhad Asbar 8; 8. Charlatan 56 R Marshall 10; 9. Czar Of Romance 56 Srinath 4; 10. Amelia 54.5 S Zervan 1; 11. Mariinsky 54.5 P Trevor 11; 12. Striking 54.5 Suraj Narredu 6.

Amelia 1; Mariinsky 2; Machiavellianism 3.

5. Suresh Mahindra Multi Million Trophy (Grade II) 1400M, 3.50 pm: 1. Speed Six 60 Suraj Narredu 10; 2. Storm Tracker 60 P Trevor 2; 3. Ancient Wonder 59.5 NS Parmar 8; 4. Kohinoor Wish 59.5 CS Josha 3; 5. Plenipotent 57.5 Srinath 4; 6. Castle King 56 R Marshall 5; 7. Inquisition 56 I Chisty 7; 8. Rosie Sunshine 54 A Sandesh 9; 9. Galiat 53.5 Christopher 6; 10. Gentle Knowledge 53.5 Dashrath S 1.

Plenipotent 1; Speed Six 2; Rosie Sunshine 3.

6. Indian Turf Invitation Cup (Grade I) 2400M, 4.30 pm: 1. An Acquired Taste 59
 Christopher 5; 2. Ocean And Beyond 59 Suraj Narredu 9; 3. Tintinnabulation 59 I Chisty 15; 4. Toroloco 59 CS Jodha 3; 5. Agostini 55 P Trevor 4; 6. Alaindair 55 Srinath 13; 7.
 Jeremiah 55 S Zervan 1; 8. Murioi 55 B Sreekanth 12; 9. Snowdrift 55 C Alford 2; 10.
 Southern Emperor 55 F DaSilva 10; 11. Sovereign Rule 55 R Marshall 11; 12. Turf Striker 55 J Fortune 7; 13. Circle Of Bliss 53.5 DK Ashish 8; 14. Isn’t She Special 53.5 David Allan 16; 15. Roses In Bloom 53.5 Dashrath S 14; 16. Starry Eyes 53.5 A Sandesh 6.

Alaindair 1; Murioi 2; Tintinnabulation 3.

7. Madras Race Club Million (Cat II, rtd upto 75) 1200M, 5.10 pm: 1. Aventus 62.5 Kiran Naidu 3; 2. Beau Ideal 61.5 K Mukesh 4; 3. King Julien 59 P Trevor 2; 4. Loveofmylife 59 Suraj Narredu 5; 5. Triumphant 58 Srinath 7; 6. Rumour Has It 57 David Allan 9; 7.
 Shamrock Lady 56.5  I Chisty 8; 8. Twinklingofaneye 53 Christopher 6; 9. Little Love 50 Ajit Singh 1.

Loveofmylife 1; King Julien 2; Shamrock Lady 3.

8. Whooper Plate (Cat I) 1200M, 5.45 pm: 1. Racing Ahead 60 I Chisty 11; 2. Ocean Side 58 B Dileep 10; 3. Sweet Candy 58 Deep Shanker 13; 4. Naughty Gal 57 Kiran Naidu 3; 5. Young Soldier 57 CS Jodha 4; 6. Hard Kingdom 54.5 Nitin Singh 1; 7. Brahmani 53 AK Pawar 7; 8. Elenor 53 Christopher 12; 9. Santa Monica 52.5 NS Parmar 5; 10. Palm Springs 52 A Sandesh 6; 11. Mr Khoashteep 51.5 Akshay Kumar 2; 12. Cristiano 51 Dashrath S 14; 13. Strides Of Glory 51 N Rawal 8; 14. Power Drive 50 P Sai Kumar 9.Racing Ahead 1; Santa Monica 2; Palm Springs 3.

Day’s best: Racing Ahead.

Jackpot: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Mini-jackpot: 5, 6, 7, 8. I treble: 1, 2, 3. II treble: 4, 5, 6. III treble: 6, 7, 8.