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Eternal Flame keeps Valiant Spirit at bay

By: Stay Thirsty   August 21 , 2015
   

Ganapathy trained Eternal Flame shook off her only rival Valiant Spirit to win the 1400 metres Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Memorial Million, a terms race for three year olds, with ease on Friday. Quite a few upsets during the course of the running of nine events saw punters get the wrong end of the stick.

Eternal Flame who is already a winner of five races was set to concede six and half kgs to Valiant Spirit who had just one win to his credit. The fact that Eternal Flame was a horse of proven credentials was the reason why she went to the post at cramped odds. Eternal Flame towered over Valiant Spirit both in terms of rating and achievements in her career. The only point of interest was whether Valiant Spirit who had shown good improvement in his recent workouts, would make a quantum jump in ratings and put it across Eternal Flame. In the end it proved a herculean task for Valiant Spirit who however put up a gallant show which should help the late developing horse in future endeavours.
  
  


With there being just three runners and only in two in terms of horses with some credentials, bookmakers were wary of looking beyond Eternal Flame. The daughter of Arazan who has excelled over this trip, looked a picture of fitness in the paddock. Valiant Spirit who had been slapped blinkers for the first time, was taken on a start to finish mission by Trevor Patel with Eternal Flame racing a few lengths adrift. Valiant Spirit could not shake off his rival in the straight as Eternal Flame steadily gained ascendancy with minimum of effort and extended the lead to a little over a length at the finish. The only other contestant in the race, Dazzling Bay was third more than 34 lengths behind. Eternal Flame is expected to run the Mysore 1000 Guineas which should be hers for the asking considering the fact that potential threats have chosen to test waters elsewhere.

Veteran trainer Puttanna had a double. Jersey Shore had been performing below par in his efforts at Bangalore though on a couple of occasions he did give hopes of a change in fortunes. Finally he found his depth in the relatively more comfortable opposition in Mysore as he romped home in good style in the 1400 metres Star of Mysore Trophy, a race for horses rated 60 and above. Kingston Town was the favourite ahead of Speed Hawk but both these runners found the eventual winner too good for comfort. Jockey Pradeep Chouhan positioned him well and had the progeny of Ikhtyar take charge inside the final two furlongs. Jersey Shore stormed clear of his pursuer Speed Hawk to win with a measure of comfort. Kingston Town who was none too well positioned, produced sparkling acceleration when the cause had been lost but nevertheless edged past Speed Hawk to claim the runner up berth.

Girinath trained Naval Glory produced a scintillating performance down the final furlong and sailed clear of the rest to win the 1600 metres Ranga Family Cup, a race for horses rated 40 to 65. With the withdrawal of Southern Surprise from the fray, last start winner Only Princess was backed to the exclusion of the rest. Only Princess ran way below expectations finishing a poor third. Wrekin who was being raced over the extended trip perhaps for the first time in his career, enjoyed the trip as he stayed ahead of the pack right from the start and was only overhauled by the eventual winner in the final furlong. However, he battled on to keep the second position ahead of favourite Only Princess who failed to show any spark.

One did not know what punters found in Golden Diamond and backed it exclusively to win the 1400 metres Talakadu Plate (Div I), a race for lowest rated horses. Golden Diamond had not done anything noteworthy in his only outing at Bangalore and he had nothing to recommend his credentials. The fact that he was backed to on money favouritism indicated there could be hidden virtues. Money followed money and the four year old gelding went to the post as on money favourite. Very soon the punters regretted the folly of backing such horses only by hearsay without proof of performance on the race track as the favourite ran like a dud and was lost in the crowd. The odds on Little Brown Jug drifted with aggressive support for Golden Diamond. Little Brown Jug who raced in a handy position, immediately began to assert his superiority inside the final two furlongs and stretched away for a facile win over late finishing Happy Victory. Golden Diamond who stayed in touch with the front runner till the straight, failed to pick up speed and was a lost cause. Saratoga Spring who has just one win to his credit in his long career also managed to get past Golden Diamond. In the lower division of the race, jockey Imran Khan persisted with a route along the rails though the passage looked tight at one stage but favourite One To Note showed enough resolution to take the gap that materialised and stretched away for an easy win over Active Grey who just about held off Keep Secret for the runner up berth.

Bobby trained Phelps just been given one just outing after migrating from Mumbai and the flow of money on the five year old was indicative of the fact that the gelding was ready to strike in the 1400 metres Cauvery Plate, a race for horses rated 40 to 65. Phelps took charge from the word `go` and went away for a ridiculously easy win by over nine lengths. Ace Force pipped Ice Brown to claim the second spot.

Sharat Kumar trained Top Star who had won in her last outing was made the firm favourite to win the 1100 metres Full Speed Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 45. However, the filly who played up at the gates performed poorly and punters who backed merely because Suraj Narredu was astride, ended up losing heavily. The race was won by Zulfiqar who had fair Bangalore form. Zulfiqar sailed past the front running Cattleya to record an easy win. Icecream produced a late flourish to occupy the second place. Galway Girl was driven out by Trevor for a narrow win over Hero Worship in the lower division of the race.

Santosh Rao trained Anonymous who had come down significantly in scales, had no problem in leaving the opposition stranded in the final furlong of the 1200 metres Regency Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 45, to win as he pleased. Campeon and Teri Adah occupied the next two slots.

 
 
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