Speed Six Speed outclasses the field
Padmanabhan trained Speed Six outclassed a top field in the 1400 metres Gr 2 Juvenile Million, the feature event of Sunday’s races. The manner in which Speed Six swamped a seasoned opposition in what was only his second run of his career marks him out as a strong contender for next month’s Gr 1 Colts Trial Stakes.
Amadeus had finished a close third to Picasso in the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million and was expectedly backed to the exclusion of the rest to win this lead up race for the classics. The got-abroad colt Amadeus had shown amazing turn of foot in all his outings and had been blazing the track. Speed Six had given glimpse of his immense potential in his debut win but was short on experience. The fact that his dam Six Speed, herself a multi-classic winning horses, had not produced any champions as the previous ones had started out impressively only to fade out without living up to the promise of the debut win made many sceptical about his chances. However, one could expect Speed Six to be different considering the fact that he had recorded his first win in winter with hardly any work as he had come into training after being operated for a splint bone in December. The fact that he was something special was indicated by the BTC handicapper rating him at 56 after his win in a maidens’ race. Astapi, an impressive debutant winner at Mumbai, Hyderabad’s Super Duper and Star Marquees had their share of supporters.
The two market fancies Amadeus and Speed Six found themselves in front from the inside draw and after traversing a furlong, Neeraj Rawal decided to take the second favourite to the front. Speed Six set a decent pace followed by Own Empire, Amadeus, Super Duper, Astapi and the rest, with Star Marquees and I Specialist at the tail end of the field. Speed Six brought the field into view with a lead of a couple of lengths over Amadeus but with the latter not showing the patented acceleration and wilting under pressure, it was left to Speed Six to do all the front running without being pressed by his opponents. Speed Six checked in a shade over two lengths in an excellent timing of one minute 25.9 seconds. I Specialist came up with a long stretch run to neck out Astapi for the third slot. The other runners in the fray ran without hope.
With this win, Speed Six can only improve and immensely better for this experience. At this stage he appears to have only Pronto Pronto as his main threat in the Colts Trial Stakes. Pronto Pronto is to have a mock race and is expected to go into the Colts Trial Stakes without the benefit of a race run. Amadeus appears to have problems with tackling longer distances.
One of the best performed three year olds in the country, Black Magic Woman from C D Katrak’s yards, had a lung opener in an ordinary six furlong race. The hugely talented daughter of Placerville chased Romance In The Air for most part of the journey before kicking clear in the final furlong. Valahak ran on to finish second while six-year old mare Romance In The Air put up a promising show and should strike in her age group. One is not sure at this point of time whether Black Magic Woman will be targeted for the Fillies Trial Stakes which is over a mile or confined to sprints. There is no doubt that she enjoys top billing and she is best horse of her age though officially she may not enjoy that tag. Black Magic Woman easily clocked a smart timing of one minute12.96 seconds.
Padmanabhan’s Celebrity was another who enhanced her reputation with an impressive win in the 1400 metres Ministerial Trophy, a race for maiden three year olds. The daughter of dual Derby winner Littleover, Celebrity had lost narrowly in her debut run in winter and thereafter, played up violently at the start in a sweepstakes race at Hyderabad. Celebrity did not jump smartly but she was steadied quickly and settled down to run without any hiccups. After this experience, she should progress well. After tracking Mountain Prince into the straight, Celebrity went sailing clear to win by a widening margin of eight lengths in good timing of one minute 27.15 seconds with Saganaki plodding in second position. If she shows improvement on this run, Celebrity can be a contender for the Fillies Trial Stakes.
Satish Narredu trained Bourne Supreme successfully landed a huge punt. The progeny of Rebuttal had made a winning debut in winter and yet again he was backed spiritedly to land the spoils in the 1400 metres Basque Plate, the concluding race of the day. There was also strong support for Chemin De Fer but that was nothing comparable to that enjoyed by the eventual winner. Jockey Neeraj Rawal, who had earlier booted home a treble, blotted his copybook on the favourite. He came in as a replacement for jockey B Prakash who had reported sick after his ride on Amadeus. Rawal failed to work the filly from the outside draw into a striking position. He lost position early on as he had Chemin De Fer racing on the wide outside before dropping back to the rear of the field. The filly was completely out of the reckoning as she came very wide into the straight and ended up sixth just a second shy of the eventual winner. Bourne Supreme, despite drifting out under pressure, held on to win from Vijay Keerti. One has to give Chemin De Fer another chance to find out whether this effort was in keeping with the expectations.
Vittal Deshmukh’s Doomna’s Conquest received one sided support in the 1200 metres Prince Khartoum Trophy. The filly was checked for soundness at the gates as she was trotted before she was allowed to run. Lesser fancied runner Hawa led all the way and held on gallantly to win from Sunday Cruz while Doomna’s Conquest struggled to pick up steam and was a tame third.
One Cool Cat who had the benefit of a forward run, was backed strongly to claim the Astounding Plate (Div I) but the four-year old caught a tartar in Star of desire who refused to give up under relentless pressure from the favourite and won at nourishing odds. Habanero had the best credentials to win the lower division of the race and he did so at the expense of the well backed Your Destiny.
Augusta and Silver Court were the betting rage in the Santa Anita Plate but both these horses failed to run to the expectations of their backers. Fire Star was quietly fancied to pull it off and under the hands of forceful riding of jockey John, Fire Star just about held on to win at the expense of Augusta.
Amadeus had finished a close third to Picasso in the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million and was expectedly backed to the exclusion of the rest to win this lead up race for the classics. The got-abroad colt Amadeus had shown amazing turn of foot in all his outings and had been blazing the track. Speed Six had given glimpse of his immense potential in his debut win but was short on experience. The fact that his dam Six Speed, herself a multi-classic winning horses, had not produced any champions as the previous ones had started out impressively only to fade out without living up to the promise of the debut win made many sceptical about his chances. However, one could expect Speed Six to be different considering the fact that he had recorded his first win in winter with hardly any work as he had come into training after being operated for a splint bone in December. The fact that he was something special was indicated by the BTC handicapper rating him at 56 after his win in a maidens’ race. Astapi, an impressive debutant winner at Mumbai, Hyderabad’s Super Duper and Star Marquees had their share of supporters.
The two market fancies Amadeus and Speed Six found themselves in front from the inside draw and after traversing a furlong, Neeraj Rawal decided to take the second favourite to the front. Speed Six set a decent pace followed by Own Empire, Amadeus, Super Duper, Astapi and the rest, with Star Marquees and I Specialist at the tail end of the field. Speed Six brought the field into view with a lead of a couple of lengths over Amadeus but with the latter not showing the patented acceleration and wilting under pressure, it was left to Speed Six to do all the front running without being pressed by his opponents. Speed Six checked in a shade over two lengths in an excellent timing of one minute 25.9 seconds. I Specialist came up with a long stretch run to neck out Astapi for the third slot. The other runners in the fray ran without hope.
With this win, Speed Six can only improve and immensely better for this experience. At this stage he appears to have only Pronto Pronto as his main threat in the Colts Trial Stakes. Pronto Pronto is to have a mock race and is expected to go into the Colts Trial Stakes without the benefit of a race run. Amadeus appears to have problems with tackling longer distances.
One of the best performed three year olds in the country, Black Magic Woman from C D Katrak’s yards, had a lung opener in an ordinary six furlong race. The hugely talented daughter of Placerville chased Romance In The Air for most part of the journey before kicking clear in the final furlong. Valahak ran on to finish second while six-year old mare Romance In The Air put up a promising show and should strike in her age group. One is not sure at this point of time whether Black Magic Woman will be targeted for the Fillies Trial Stakes which is over a mile or confined to sprints. There is no doubt that she enjoys top billing and she is best horse of her age though officially she may not enjoy that tag. Black Magic Woman easily clocked a smart timing of one minute12.96 seconds.
Padmanabhan’s Celebrity was another who enhanced her reputation with an impressive win in the 1400 metres Ministerial Trophy, a race for maiden three year olds. The daughter of dual Derby winner Littleover, Celebrity had lost narrowly in her debut run in winter and thereafter, played up violently at the start in a sweepstakes race at Hyderabad. Celebrity did not jump smartly but she was steadied quickly and settled down to run without any hiccups. After this experience, she should progress well. After tracking Mountain Prince into the straight, Celebrity went sailing clear to win by a widening margin of eight lengths in good timing of one minute 27.15 seconds with Saganaki plodding in second position. If she shows improvement on this run, Celebrity can be a contender for the Fillies Trial Stakes.
Satish Narredu trained Bourne Supreme successfully landed a huge punt. The progeny of Rebuttal had made a winning debut in winter and yet again he was backed spiritedly to land the spoils in the 1400 metres Basque Plate, the concluding race of the day. There was also strong support for Chemin De Fer but that was nothing comparable to that enjoyed by the eventual winner. Jockey Neeraj Rawal, who had earlier booted home a treble, blotted his copybook on the favourite. He came in as a replacement for jockey B Prakash who had reported sick after his ride on Amadeus. Rawal failed to work the filly from the outside draw into a striking position. He lost position early on as he had Chemin De Fer racing on the wide outside before dropping back to the rear of the field. The filly was completely out of the reckoning as she came very wide into the straight and ended up sixth just a second shy of the eventual winner. Bourne Supreme, despite drifting out under pressure, held on to win from Vijay Keerti. One has to give Chemin De Fer another chance to find out whether this effort was in keeping with the expectations.
Vittal Deshmukh’s Doomna’s Conquest received one sided support in the 1200 metres Prince Khartoum Trophy. The filly was checked for soundness at the gates as she was trotted before she was allowed to run. Lesser fancied runner Hawa led all the way and held on gallantly to win from Sunday Cruz while Doomna’s Conquest struggled to pick up steam and was a tame third.
One Cool Cat who had the benefit of a forward run, was backed strongly to claim the Astounding Plate (Div I) but the four-year old caught a tartar in Star of desire who refused to give up under relentless pressure from the favourite and won at nourishing odds. Habanero had the best credentials to win the lower division of the race and he did so at the expense of the well backed Your Destiny.
Augusta and Silver Court were the betting rage in the Santa Anita Plate but both these horses failed to run to the expectations of their backers. Fire Star was quietly fancied to pull it off and under the hands of forceful riding of jockey John, Fire Star just about held on to win at the expense of Augusta.
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