Captain Morgan survived a stunning charge from defending champion Tintinnabulation while Adam attested his status as the ‘Sprint King’ on an action packed day in the Invitation Cup weekend here on Saturday.
Stuck in a tight bunch with a very little room to manoeuvre towards the final bend and forced to watch Tintinnabulation break free with 300 metres to go, Captain Morgan, ridden superbly by P Trevor, produced a blistering dash in the final 75 metres to emerge champion in the Dr M A M Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Memorial Stayers' Cup over 3000 metres at the Bangalore Turf Club.
While Tintinnabulation missed out on retaining the ‘Endurance Champion’ crown, Adam (N S Parmar astride), seven years old and given very little chance in the Mysore Race Club Sprinters' Cup over 1200 metres, proved big-race experience is absolutely priceless by scoring a scorching victory to retain his crown amidst loud roars and some shocked faces.
It also ended up being a Super Saturday for Vijay Mallya’s United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders Limited as their horses won the two marquee events of the day.
Cha Cha Cha (Parmar up) was the first out of the blocks in the Stayers’ Cup but Booker Jones (David Allan up) hit the front after the first bend. Arlene (Neeraj Rawal up) then assumed command and it stayed like that around the penultimate straight with Trevor choosing to keep Captain Morgan quiet behind the pack.
Arlene emerged first around the final bend but then she started to tire out with two furlongs left. P S Chouhan started to whip Tintinnabulation into the lead while Trevor was trying to get Captain Morgan out of traffic. With one furlong left, Tintinnabulation took a healthy lead and it looked like the eight-year old would retain his crown. Trevor, though, was not giving up and he started to whip Captain Morgan ferociously and the strong colt responded incredibly, getting even with Tintinnabulation at around the 75-metre mark before thundering home in 3:15.85.
“Hats off to Tintinnabulation. When he pulled clear with 300 metres left, I thought the race was over. Kudos to our team and we’ve done a great job,” S S Attaollahi, trainer of Captain Morgan said.
“Trevor was fantastic today. He rode him very well towards the end. It was part of strategy to keep him behind and then go full tilt. It was an excellent race,” he added.
The Sprinters’ Cup saw Adam make the most of the gate number 2 draw to craft an astonishing win. For most part of the race Dancing Phoenix led but Adam, piloted admirably by David Allan, stepped on the pedal when it mattered most to cross the line first with a timing of 1:11.40.
“In the sprints, you need a bit of luck. All the horses in the field are champion horses. You need things to go your way on the big day. Adam proved today why he’s such a champion,” said a delighted Pesi Shroff, Adam’s trainer.
Both Captain Morgan and Adam took home Rs₹30 lakh each and now all eyes will be on Hall Of Famer on Sunday.
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