Brilliant Becket blows Derby field away

Racing: Allan pilots Padmanabhan-ward to convincing win

There were questions galore as the action picked up on the big day at the Bangalore Turf Club. Can Becket stay the 2400M distance? Is he fit enough? If so, is anyone good enough to challenge him? At 4.39 pm all those questions were laid to rest.
Becket won and won in a  canter. No other horse could match the Padmanabhan-trained colt. Youre So Beautiful gave it a shot, but the filly was no match for the Harresh Mehta-owned horse.

Five weeks back, Becket was struggling for fitness and there were doubts over his participation in the derby. No wonder then, trainer Padmanabhan was thrilled with his ward’s display on the day.

“To think that five weeks back he was lame, and with the derby coming up, we were counting down every single hour, every single minute, hoping he will make it,” said Padmanabhan after the race.

The worries were blown away as Becket made the race look ridiculously easy. “This is by far the best horse I have ever trained,” Padmanabhan added.

First Of A Legend was the first to hit the front, followed by Strelitzian and Moon Memories. The favourites were bunched up together in the middle of the pack. The first thousand metres followed the same pattern before Gershwin made a move. Youre So Beautiful also moved away from the middle of the pack and started catching up with First Of A Legend.

With about thousand metres to go, Gershwin powered ahead followed by Youre So Beautiful and the horse everyone came to see, Becket. With the straight in sight, Suraj Narredu pushed Youre So Beautiful to first place while David Allan and Becket were right behind. Just when it looked like Narredu might pull it off, Allan urged Becket and with consummate ease he powered ahead of the Neil Darashah-trained filly.

Allan was so confident on his mount that with 200 metres to go, he was pumping his fist and starting the celebrations.

“I knew the moment I got past Youre So Beautiful, the race was won,” said the Scot.

Becket had indeed won the race by a massive four lengths. Youre So Beautiful had to settle for a creditable second, with C Alford-ridden Gershwin and CD Hayes-steered Star Alliance coming in third and fourth respectively.

 “Now it’s off to Mumbai and the Indian Derby,” said a very proud Padmanabhan. If today’s race is anything to go by, Jacqueline is going to have a fight on her hands to take India’s top racing prize on February 7.

In the day’s other races, Awarding (B Prakash up) put up an impressive show to edge out Couleur Rouge in the Ted Fordyce Cup and CD Hayes steered Cielo Rey lived up to the favourite’s tag by easing to victory in the Mysore Race Club Trophy.

Results

Following are the results of the Derby day races at the Bangalore Turf Club on Tuesday:

1. Vidhana Soudha Cup (Div II) -- 1400M: Sparklingadventure (Santosh S Lad’s) S John 1; Man United (Srinath) 2; Glory Bound (Suraj Narredu) 3; Voice Of India (Harish) 4; WB: 5-1/4, 3/4, Sh Nk; T: 1:28.62; Tote: Rs 93w, Rs 23, Rs 16, Rs 13p; TB: Puttanna; Fav: Voice Of India; Fc: Rs 200; Q: Rs 85; SHP: Rs 49; Tri: Rs 263 and Rs 116.

2. Vidhana Soudha Cup (Div I) -- 1400M: Greens (N Sadashiva’s) Srinath 1; Caspian Sea (S De Sousa) 2; Leon Cavallo (Khurshad A) 3; Express it (Gaurav Sapra) 4; WB: Nk, 3, 1/2L; T: 1:27.95; Tote: Rs 22w, Rs 12, Rs 13, Rs 22p; TB: Puttanna; Fav: Greens; Fc: Rs 25; Q: Rs 17; SHP: Rs 35; Tri: Rs 88 and Rs 60.

3. Ted Fordyce Cup -- 1200M: Awarding (MAM Ramaswamy’s) B Prakash 1; Couleur Rouge (S Fargeat) 2; Tempus Fugit (PS Chouhan) 3; Con Artiste (David Allan) 4; WB: 1-1/4, 2-3/4, 1L: T: 1:14.32; Tote: Rs 45w, Rs 16, Rs 25, Rs 20p; TB: Ganapthy; Fav: Americus; Fc: Rs 163; Q: Rs 104; SHP: Rs 84; Tri: Rs 339 and Rs 142.

4. NRCE Cup (Div II) -- 1200M: Defiance (Sadique Mohammed, Neil Darashah and Anneka Darashah’s) Suraj Narredu 1; Bolzano (I Chisty) 2; Saratoga (Merchant) 3; Tulasi (N Harsha) 4; WB: 2-1/2, 3-1/2, 3L: T: 1:15.67; Tote: Rs 24w, Rs 13, Rs 25, Rs 28p; TB: Neil Darashah; Fav: Defiane; Fc: Rs 125; Q: Rs 102; SHP: Rs 81; Tri: Rs 571 and Rs 436; Exp: Rs 9,035 and Rs 8712.

5. Mysore Race Club Trophy -- 1600M: Cielo Rey (Vijay Mallya rep Utd Rac and Bloodstock Breeders Ltd’s) CD Hayes 1; Our Little Savage (C Alford) 2; Splendid Surprise (David Allan) 3; Kyles of Bute (I Chisty) 4; WB:  1-1/4, 3/4, 1-3/4L; T: 1:39.05; Tote: Rs 20w, Rs 13, Rs 69, Rs 18p; TB: S Attaollahi; Fav: Rs Cielo Ray; Fc: Rs 201; Q: Rs 139; SHP: Rs 231; Tri: Rs 837 and Rs 239.

6. Indian Republic Trophy -- 2000M: Scimitar (Shahnaaz A Abbas’s) S Fargeat 1; Dante’s Peak (David Allan) 2; Oban (S De Sousa) 3; Spark Of Reverence (I Chisty) 4; WB: 3/4, 3-1/2, 1/2L; T: 2:08.15; Tote: Rs 119w, Rs 30, Rs 44, Rs 24p; TB: Md A Abbas; Fav: Portobello; Fc: Rs 4,310; Q: Rs 827; SHP: Rs 24; Tri: Rs 5,963 and Rs 3,408.

7. Poonawalla Bangalore Derby -- 2400M: Becket (Harresh N Mehta and Mayuri H Mehta rep Rohan Bloodstock Pvt Ltd’s) David Allan 1; Youre So Beautiful (Suraj Narredu) 2; Gershwin (C Alford) 3; Star Alliance (CD Hayes) 4; WB: 4, 2-3/4, 3/4L: T: 2: 33.97; Tote: Rs 17w, Rs 13, Rs 18, Rs 155p; TB: Padmanabhan; Fav: Becket; Fc: Rs 50; Q: Rs 57; SHP: Rs 46; Tri: Rs 1,559 and Rs 969; Exp: Rs 9,182 and Rs 2,951.

8. NRCE Cup (Div I) -- 1200M: Greenbro (Harresh N Mehta and Mayuri H Mehta rep Rohan Bloodstock Pvt Ltd’s) Gaurav Sapra 1; Rumour Proof  (S De Sousa) 2; Ice Mint (PS Chouhan) 3; Sugriv (N Harsha) 4; WB: 3/4, Hd; 2L; T: 1: 16.28; Tote: Rs 37w, Rs 18, Rs 17, Rs 20p; TB: Amit Caddy; Fav: Greenbro; Fc: Rs 244; Q: Rs 143; SHP: Rs 49; Tri: Rs 318 and Rs 189; Exp: Rs 27,760 and Rs 17,845.

9. Nethravathi Trophy -- 1400M: Sher Dil (N Ramesh, Mahmood Khan, SL Uday Shankar and S Chockalingam’s) I Chisty 1; Camelot (R Marshall) 2; Magnifique (Srinath) 3; Firm Amber (Vinod Shinde) 4; Not run: Spring A Surprise; WB: 3/4, 1-1/4, Nose; T: 1:29.30; Tote: Rs 129w; Rs 29, Rs 13, Rs 20p; TB: Md Khan; Fav: Camelot; Fc: Rs 446; Q: Rs 75; SHP: 48; Tri: Rs 581 and Rs 278; Exp: Rs 3,184 and Rs 1,755.

Jackpot: Rs 62,174 (28).  Runner: Rs 1,703 (438).  Mini-jackpot: Rs 1,130 (43).
I treble: Rs 99 (542).
 II treble: Rs 14,915 (5).