Legends of the Googly – Review of the 9th day of racing of the Pune Season 2014
By Shiven Surendranath
If one’s ears were to pick up the word “googly” at a race course it would be safe to conclude that the said individual, from whose lips the word may have escaped, had misplaced his compass and had navigated himself to be at the wrong place, even if he were to unnecessarily argue that it was at the right time.
The word “googly”, however, seemed to be the only lexicon of punters at the Pune racecourse on the 13th and 14th September.
While the odds will always be heavily stacked against sighting exponents of the “googly” at racecourses, if one were to still somehow chance upon a bowler that fateful weekend, it would have had to have been on the head of a well heeled patron of the sport of kings rather than a sweaty individual running in from the pavilion end.
Those who can tell their “wrong un’s” from the more straight forward leg spin would know that the “wrong un’ ” owes its cult following to its legends like Abdul Quadir, B.S.Chandrashekhar, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne to name a few. But even those who know their “wrong un’s” like the back of their hands would never have guessed that horse racing too had its practitioners of the “googly”. Though not as famous as their cricketing counterparts they showed over the weekend that they were no less in talent than the cricketing greats, only less famous.
With darn clouds hovering around it was clear that the yielding nature of the track was going to assist the turning ball and the chances of breaking one’s fixed deposits was going to be infinitely higher than the breaking of track records.
The omens of doom were visible with the first ball of the day as it pitched on leg and turned viscously towards off and it was none other than champion Pune trainer Narendra Lagad who bowled that beauty.
“Play Without Fear, without fear” he said, as he rolled his arm over, spat on the red cherry and marked his run up.
His legion of followers were instantly spotted thronging the bookies ring and they let lose a volley of currency so large that the favourite Leothefirecehorse, named such by the one of the owners young daughters, immediately drifted out in odds.
About 20 minutes later and with 300 to go Leothefiercehorse then drifted out once again to go out of contention for a podium finish after sitting second till that point.
Without Fear attempted the old fashioned “gate to winning post”.National Gold (30-1), the other Lagad runner in the race jumped out slowly, sat last, traveled wide but yet pipped Without Fear on the last stride to win.
Trainer Lagad’s “wrong ‘un", of “tipping one and winning with the other” was of such high quality that had any of the “googly” bowlers mentioned above been witness to the events as they had unfolded they would have made a bee line to this master for a much cherished autograph.
The stable of trainer Vinesh bowled the next “googly” of the day, though his bowling skills was nowhere in the class of his senior trainer they were as effective nonetheless. He floored the punters with his charge Answer My Prayers, who discovered guts and stamina to win over a mile in yielding conditions.
As the nine jumped Star Prince led the field with Dream Yuga 2nd , Mahima 3rd, Nigella, the favourite 4th and Answer My Prayers 5th. Into the straight Dream Yuga streaked ahead but Answer My Prayers challenged strongly to win. Nigella did not get a clear run between Dream Yuga and Answer My Prayers and lives to fight another day.
Answer My Prayers had every chance on handicap and full credit must be given to the trainer for his wards victory.
The question now was if Himalayan Queen would complete a hat trick of wickets with the third “googly” of the day. Himalayan Queen gave her answer by strolling home to win at cramped odds.
Considering Himalayan Queen nearly beat Shivalik Storm, currently rated 75 and the winner of the Poonawalla Breeders Multi-Million, in her only start in Mumbay she should be in the firing line next time out. For those with an eye on timings hers was just fractionally off the winning time of Providence who won later in the day in class 3.
The 4th saw jockey Daman being tossed the ball to bowl but being a mere apprentice he did not posses the experience and maturity required to turn the ball the other way and bowled something that was more in the traditions of the straighter one or the “arm ball”
He jumped out leisurely on the favourite Umarkot, sat 4th last and then slowly made his way through the filed to take the lead a 100 from home to win by a diminishing 1/2.
Had jockey Daman known that the trainer of Ocean Star, had scrambled to somehow get the horse transferred to his name before the race he may have ridden the horse in a far more alert manner.
The 5th race of the 9th Day of the Pune Season was most interesting. Not just because another “googly” was bowled but because it had in contention two youngsters with their eyes on the Pune Derby: Tiger Tops and Shivalik Storm.
Those fortunate enough to have seen Shane Warne bowl on a turning track would be a familiar with the “googly” that turns so prodigiously that it beats bat, pad and wicket keeper thereby doing no real damage except for unsettling the bearer of the bat.
Trainer Pesi Shroff bowled one such “googly” with Tiger Tops.
Trainer Shroff’s“googly” though involved owner Haresh Mehta and the following telephonic conversation is rumored to have transpired:
Pesi: Hi, Haresh
Haresh: Hi Pesi
Pesi: …about Tiger Tops..
Haresh (interrupting Pesi) : Yes …yes… about Tiger Tops…
Pesi: Haresh , I don’t think we can beat Shivalik Storm
Haresh : Really
Pesi: Really
Haersh: No chance
Pesi: No chance
Haresh: Ok thanks bye
Pesi: Ok Thanks bye
Yet, in spite of this high powered voice and echo styletete a tete between leading trainer and Owner, Tiger Tops remained the favourite and in fact got backed down to finally run at 11/10. Tiger Tops jumped to a bloodless start to finish victory. She was helped by the fact that her supposed challenger, Shivalik Strom, suffered an attack of amnesia in the race as he forgot to challenge his rival at any stage. He sat an unsettled 3rd at the start and finished a tame 2nd at the end. Memory tabs in addition to the usual round of pick ups before he runs the Pune Derby will surely help Shivalik Storm’s cause.
Every once in a while cricket matches are staged between owners, trainers and jockeys at the sprawling open space in the middle of the Mumbai race course. Amongst the more enthusiastic participants in those contests is trainer Mallesh Narredu.
On a day of “googlies” it was but natural then for this cricket enthusiast turned jockey turned trainer to turn his arm around and turn one the other way. He bowled a world class “googly” with Zadora.
Mallesh announced that the odds on Zadora were wrong but one could play him at race time when the odds would possibly drift. They never did and remained stubbornly stuck by Fevicol at 90/100 .
Zadora jumped out and fought for the lead with Artiste through the race. Ice Affair, Oriental Rocky and Providence sat on their tails throughout. At about 300 from home those who had stepped out to play Zadora were stumped. They must have realised at that moment that Mallesh’s cricketing talent is no less than his talent as a trainer as he had tossed one up in the air and beaten everyone in the flight.
Zadora finally packed up to finish 5th even as Providence, who had the best credentials to win this race, put up a smart run to go away from the field.
Providence was tuned to the minute and trainer Zadmal Singh needs to be thanked by his owners for his preference of training horses over cricket.
The trainers of Ramesses, Zana, Zippy, Captain Abdon and Toofan were spotted moving their heads vigorously from left to right or from right to left in the 7th, not just as a comic imitation of umpire Steve Bucknor but more as a dramatization of the chances of their wards.
The only trainer to move his head up and down, in assent, was S.S. Shah and it seemed like his ward Aleta had no opposition. Here the plot thickened as no one had calculated that the genteel old Shah Saab too had interest in cricket.
Shah Saab showed that if he had chosen to wear white cricket flannels in his youth instead of opting for a more colourful life at the races Abdul Quadir would have been a distant second to him as a bowler.
Aleta backed down to on money favouritsm, jumped out tardily and never raised a gallop. So good was this “googly” that even the stipes report post the race could only fault the horse for his jumping skills and none for his racing skills.
Ramases put in a good run to win but his winning time was almost the same as National Gold, the winner of the opener in class 5 and he needs to improve by a few seconds to really strike in good company. There is no reason to believe he will not as he went into the race underdone.
Amazing Grace was heading for its double hat trick and had The St.Leger firmly in sight as it tackled it stable mate Circle Of Bliss to win the Idar Gold Trophy.
No “googlies” were bowled here and Amazing Grace’s victory was top drawer.
Both Amazing Grace and Circle of Bliss sat at the tail end of the field as Belvedere was kind enough to set the pace for them followed by Star of Gibraltar, One Wish and Astapi.
The racing order remained more or less the same for most of the race till the 1400 when Rodeo started moving up steadily on the outside. Past the 600 Belvedere was still about 3 clear when Amazing Grace started moving up, still double hand full. With 300 to go it was clear that Amazing Grace would cruise past the winning post even as Circle of Bliss tried to challenge.
The soon to be featured clash between Amazing Grace and Alandair in the Indian St. Leger will be worth the distance to travel to watch.
After the victory of Tiger Tops, owner Haresh Mehta’s name figured a second time in the day in connection with a “googly”. This time his partner was trainer Mansoor Shah.
Trainer Mansoor Shah bowled his “googly” with Stormy Princess who may have been reluctant to get stalled but she was certainly not reluctant to win as she came with a rattle to go past Summer Express.
Nirbhaya led the field from the start till into the straight and was followed by the trio of the favourite Beyond Horizon, Summer Express and Mountain Queen who alternated places behind it.
Autumn Love and Stormy Princess both came up nicely from the back of the pack but while Autumn Love withered away Stormy Princess spun out an impressive win under apprentice K.N.Bhati.
Trainer Masoor Shah’s “googly” was at 20-1 and so cleverly did he bowl it that even he didn’t know which way the ball was going to turn.
The last race of the day had Cosmic Dancer open as the favourite. Players of spin could however have fathomed this “googly” even as the ball left the inverted wrist of Rehanullah Khan.
There was no reason for Cosmic Dancer to be the evens except for the fact that the owners had apparently backed it as a good thing.
Cosmic Dancer jumped out smartly but that was the only smart thing she did as she steadily dropped back from 2nd to 4th and then to the back of the filed once field turned for home.
With 200 to go picking the winner seemed to be an impossible task with Mohegun Sun, Yardstick, Sunshine Heart and Passion Prince all in contention.
In a blanket finish Passion Prince ensured that trainer Lagad got a wicket with the first and last balls of the day.
With a days play still remaining one had to wait and see how much the track would turn on Sunday.
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the author's personal views.)
