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Sulaiman Attaollahi trained Captain Morgan won the game of musical chairs this time with Mathaiyus to claim the Gr 3 2400 metres Governor`s Cup, a terms race for four-year-olds and over, the feature event of Friday`s Bangalore races. The two horses had taken turns in winning during this season and this time the music stopped in favour of Captain Morgan for him to take chair.
Mathaiyus has failed whenever he has been the favourite with Captain Morgan and vice versa was true for the latter. This repeated with consistency through the season. In the Leger, Captain Morgan had lost miserably to Mathaiyus at level weights but this time round, Captain Morgan was conceding weight and yet won comfortably confounding the punters as to what criteria to depend on.
Captain Morgan had gone down last time out due to the poor tactics adopted by the connections which was poorly executed by jockey Trevor Patel. On that occasion, it was driven home that if the pace is brisk, one can afford to relax and make the ran from behind. If the pace is slow, one has to stay in touch with the front-runners. Mathaiyus was the beneficiary of a slow race as Captain Morgan could not cover up the leeway and finished poorly. Though this time too Captain Morgan ran behind, the pace in front was brisk and Trevor did not relax and he was alert to the danger in front.
Ice Glacier who was running after a long layoff due to a setback which kept the filly out of racing and Mathaiyus raced abreast of each other while the others were spaced out behind with Captain Morgan in the rear position. The order remained the same except approaching the final bend when Ice Glacier was slowing down and jockey Neeraj Rawal pushed Mathaiyus to take over. The progeny of Multidimensional skipped ahead but it was always on cards that Captain Morgan was well-placed strike. Captain Morgan produced a good gallop down the final furlong and easily collared Mathaiyus. Magistero held off Star Nijinsky while Ice Glacier finished last. The victory and defeats of Captain Morgan and Mathiayus are classic cases of how a jockey can make or mar a race in long distance races in India where their judgemental skills come into play and more often than not, they fail to exercise the right judgement unless it is a perfectly guided race.
Imtiaz Khan trained Saladin was well placed to score in the 1200 metres Leading Stud Cup, a race for horses rated 45 to 65 except for the fact that one was not sure whether he would be raced with serious intent of exploiting his potential. The tote odds showed that there was significant thrust. Regal Music who was bidding for a hat-trick led the field in earnest with China One in second position while Saladin was placed in mid-group. Lord Darlington who was little sluggish at the start, circled around the horses in front to take over the running and led well into the straight. China One came into strong contention in the final furlong was shaping to win when Saladin showed up on the wide outside with a brilliant turn of turn of foot. Saladin sailed past the favourite to win with a measure of comfort from China One and Regal Music. Hedwig failed to cope with the better class of horses that he was asked to tackle this time out.
Sharat Kumar trained Shining Magic had a good chance to win the 1400 metres Leading Owner Cup, a race for horses rated 30 to 50. The five-year-old gelding who was always ridden from way off the pace was taken to the front from the start with a view to expend his energy. The jockey was successful as the fancied runner gradually fell back in the straight to eventually finish last. The race itself was won by long shot Mantara from the stables of Warren Singh. Mantara came up on the wide outside to floor Majestic Style who shaped like a winner. Prize Finder was third.
Happy Dancing was strongly backed to win the 1400 metres Champion Jockey Cup, a race for horses rated 15 to 35 and the four-year-old gelding fought it out with last start winner Nagarjuna before prevailing close home. Ravishing Snow edged out Arziki for the third place. Favourite Star Line was slowly off and was never in the hunt.
Another horse sporting the gold and brown colours to let huge expectations was Regal Realm in the 1200 metres Champion Trainer Cup, a race for horses rated 15 to 35. Regal Realm failed to get a favourable position from the outside draw and was never in the hunt thereafter. Pradeep Annaiah trained Sudha overcame a sluggish start and proved immensely superior to the opposition by easily measuring long shot Depth Charge in the final moments of the race. Paradiso edged out stablemate Lady Majestic to save place money.
Irfan Ghatala trained Automatic was quoted at miserly odds to win the 1600 metres Totalizator Cup, a race for maiden three-year-olds. Automatic just about made it from Majuro. The latter could have pulled it off if she had not gone very wide whenl making her run. Standout failed to improve on his last effort and could only get the third position.
Prasanna Kumar trained Beyond Reach produced a strong effort in the final furlong to get the better of Export Quality to land the spoils as a favourite in the 1200 metres Leading Tipster Cup, a race for horses in the lowest class. Beyond Reach was racing after 182 days but looked ready to strike and this was indicated by the confidence with which the four-year-old gelding was backed to win. Perfectgoldenera was third.
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Captain Morgan (Trevor Patel up) winner of the Governor`S Cup (Gr.3)
Beyond Reach (S John up) winner of the Leading Tipster Cup
Automatic (Neeraj Rawal up) winner of the Totalizator Cup
Manta Ray (Nazerul Alam up) winner of the Leading Owner Cup
Saladin (V R Jagadeesh up) winner of the Leading Stud Cup
Happy Dancing (Janardhan Paswan up) winner of the Champion Jockey Cup
Sudha (A R Pradeep up) winner of the Champion Trainer Cup
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