B R Sharan Kumar

Faced with the daunting prospect of facing Siachen, the opposition surrendered meekly in the HDIL Bangalore 1000 Guineas, the first classic of the Bangalore Winter Season on Saturday. The Jaggy Dhariwal trainee, Siachen had the opposition stranded to win her second classic in smashing fashion. The Kunigal Stud Farm produce Siachen had won the Gr 1 Fillies Trial Stakes in summer before a setback kept her out of Derby action. Siachen was running after a longish absence from the track but the fact that was well with her was advertised by her brilliant mock race as also the outstanding work out of the season as a lead up to this race. As such, she was the strongly fancied favourite in the Guineas. Barring String Along who had won the Mysore Guineas, the other runners did not have many credentials. There was great deal of expectation on One Life To Love after her smashing win but the question that remained to be answered was whether she had the requisite class to make a mark in a classic. ...

Trainer Ganapathy’s classic hope Magisterial barely managed to scrape through in the mile long Hemavathi Cup, a race for horses rated 60 to 85, one of the highlights of races held on Saturday. Magisterial looked far from ready as he struggled to stave off the challenge of a poorly ridden Sweet Caroline en roué to his success as a cramped on money favourite. Lady Duff won the day’s feature on a day when Kunigal Stud Farm stallions had a role in four of the seven races programmed for the day. Magisterial was touted as a horse of great classic potential as he recorded two back to back wins during the summer season. Magisterial looked far from ready in a mock race last week. He went into the race as cramped on money favourite on the basis of the hype that he carried though he is troubled by a few problems to his leg. One is not sure exactly what the problem is but it is difficult to visualize him winning classics after this performance. Though jockey Imran Khan did not give him a good rid...

Hazara Stud Farm is one of the up and coming stud farms based in Haryana. The stud farm is making all the right moves to make a big splash on racing on India by bringing in top stallions and good got abroad mares to complement them. Only last week Vijay Damini won the Gr 2 Golconda 2000 Guineas to start the stud far on classic conquest and more are expected in the years to come. The stud farm is the dream project of former Haryana Revenue Minister Nirmal Singh who is a great racing enthusiast. The stud farm was operating on a modest scale in the stud farm located at Ambala. In the last few years, Nirmal Singh has made a serious effort to make a massive expansion. He has imported two stallions namely Rebuttal (Mr. Greely) and Dancing Forever (Rahy). The latter is an attractive chestnut Group I winning son of Rahy. A number of mares purchased abroad, primarily in the popular Goff’s sale have added to the strength of the mares. Among the current lot of three year olds of the stud farm rac...

The unpredictable nature of horse racing came to haunt race goers on Friday as the small card of six races proved to be a minefield. The feature event of the race itself produced a shocker when the market trio was outclassed by Kingdomofdreams who had time and again let down his supporters. The four year old progeny of Diffident who ran unconcerned till the final bend, came through the rails with a blistering run, perhaps relishing the soft underfoot conditions and sailed away for an effortless win much to the chagrin of trainer Darius Byramji who was forced to sport a sheepish look as his other ward Braavo who was a favourite, was not sighted at the busy end. Two favourites came home but the other four races had the punters get a knockout punch. Braavo who had won at Mysore over seven furlongs in soft underfoot conditions, was made the favourite to win the Kabini Cup, a sprint race for horses rated 60 to 85 though close to race time the picture changed dramatically. Balas Glory who h...

One of India’s leading race horse trainers Haskell David passed away in Bangalore on Saturday after brief illness. Haskell was a gentle giant who made a big impact at Bangalore and Kolkata where he trained horses principally for Deepak Khaitan in the final decade of his career. Haskell was 87 years old. David was known as a gentle soul and was kind and generous to a fault as jockey Robin Corner for whom he gave a leg up to start off his career put it. David won two Bangalore Summer Derbys during the time I came into racing through Astounding and Romantic Dancer. He also trained Aspirant which won the Calcutta Triple Crown. From the interactions I used to have with Haskell, he came across as a person with great wit and humor and full of anecdotes to keep the party table going. He and Aris David who was the first Indian trainer to saddle more than 100 classics always used to friendly dig at each other as to who is superior. Aris always said that since his name starts with A, he was supe...

Arjun Mangalorkar trained Immense recorded a matter of fact victory in the 1600 metres Kempe Gowda Cup, a race for horses rated 80 and above, the feature event of Saturday’s races. However, the victory of dual classic winner was far from convincing and he needs to bounce back with greater vigour if he hopes to make a mark in the Indian 2000 Guineas which is the target that his trainer has set for the progeny of Gaswar. Immense had won both his outings in the monsoon season impressively but he did not particularly enjoy the ambience of the Mysore Race Course because he was very fractious on way to the starting gates on both the occasions that he ran there. He also reared up as the start was being given for the Mysore Derby, causing jockey Prakash also to get imbalanced and fall on favourite Sun Kingdom. Immense did not throw any tantrums when he was run in a mock race last week. As there was no threat perception in the race, he was quoted at cramped odds. He did not show out in the pa...

Dr and Mrs. Vijay Mallya owned Aprillia took a quantum jump when she held off the challenge of seasoned performers en route to victory in the 1200 metres Rajyotsava Cup, a terms race for three-year olds and over, the main event of Friday’s races. Aboline began as a favourite but the odds drift was a clear indication of the shape of things to come but one had not bargained for last year’s Derby winner to finish down the field. But then that has been the story of Aboline and jockey Christopher Alford. Both are known for their inconsistency. The bookies perhaps had made an error when they quoted Aboline as a firm favourite in the ante post odds. They were quick to realize that something was amiss as they kept expanding the odds and by the time the runners were stalled, Aboline had faded away from public’s eye so much so that the poor show of Aboline did not come as a surprise. Aprillia was nursed from the outside draw to take over the running by Zervan from Magnanimity and the progeny of ...

Having chronicled sports events for three decades, I have come across top sportsmen who have overcome adversity to achieve glory. Tiger Pataudi who led the Indian cricket team with distinction, had lost vision in one of his eyes following a car accident but fought back to achieve glory in cricket despite the handicap. Nowadays we have seen the phenomenon of jockeys wanting to highlight the threat perception to their lives more than the glory that accompanies success. They tend to withdraw if they have to cope with adverse conditions. What is sport all about? It is about being courageous. Courage does not mean absence of fear. Courage is about overcoming fear. The true test of a sportsman is his ability to cope with all conditions and handicaps. One of my colleagues, Suresh Menon, had put it succinctly while writing about how much the fear of injury plays on the mind of a sportsman and what ultimately determines his success. ``In no other field of human endeavor does the ultra violet ...

These days jockeys protest too much! If there is rain, they are reluctant to ride. Safety of jockeys is of course paramount because injury and even possibility of death is something that a professional has to contend with. However, soft ground does not necessarily mean it threatens the life and limb of a jockey. In fact, horses tend to relish soft underfoot conditions. There are no breakdowns during racing held in soft underfoot conditions. Racing in soft underfoot conditions can prove to be a minefield only for punters as it places a premium on the fitness of horses. Also some horses relish the conditions better than others. In fact, rain and slush have been part and parcel of racing during the Bangalore Summer Season. In my 20 odd years of racing experience, I haven’t come across any accident related to soft underfoot conditions. In fact, many of the serious accidents have happened in firm ground where horses have broken down, bringing down the jockeys and causing them grievous injur...

Mysore Guineas winner String Along did her reputation no harm when slamming the opposition in the Krishnaraja Trophy, a race for horses rated 80 and above, the feature event of what technically was the opening day’s racing of the Bangalore Winter Season on Saturday. The speedy daughter of Alnasr Alwasheek who will be a force to reckon with in the ensuing Guineas brooked on opposition when checking in well clear of late rallying Spark of Bronte. With rains easing off, racing action could begin after a break of three months which was a great relief to racing enthusiasts after the tension of eviction threat that the club faced following the expiry of the lease agreement with the government and the defeat that the club suffered in High Court. String Along had won twice at Mysore and before that an equal number of times during the summer season. String Along opened at cramped odds but the odds expanded marginally though there was no threat perception from any of the contestants who either ...

The Bangalore Turf Club authorities may well have to take the help of astrologers to fix the start of every season. It is a record of sorts that the last decade has seen almost every season, be it winter or summer being affected by strikes by race owners and professionals or adverse weather conditions. Just as things were falling in place for the start of the winter season in these troubled times, came persistent rains over the last one week due to north-east cyclonic conditions, the impact of which was also felt in Bangalore. Though rains have been intermittent in the last two days, the earlier rains had done enough to soak the track. Rains on Thursday put paid to any hopes as underfoot conditions became soggy. The penetrometer reading was about 7 cms which in itself was not bad enough for racing to be held. Friday’s races have been re-scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 9. The authorities felt that even if they were to start racing, the jockeys would have raised objections, st...