UNRAVELLING THE CLASSIC CONUNDRUM - A PREVIEW OF THE SPARTAN POKER INDIAN 1000 GUINEAS (GRADE 1) - By Cyrus Naterwalla
Posted on - 15 Dec 2017
UNRAVELLING THE CLASSIC CONUNDRUM – A Preview of the Spartan Poker Indian 1000 Guineas (Grade 1)
- By Cyrus Naterwalla
The Indian 1000 Guineas is the first Classic of the Mumbai Racing season and is contested by the top 3 year old Fillies over the Metric Mile. It is usually run on the 2nd Sunday in December although it has been shunted back and forth for various reasons. The inaugural running of the 1000 Guineas was way back in 1942 and it was won by Princess Beautiful, owned by The Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda, trained by M.C. Patel and ridden by Jockey E. Britt. She won by 8 lengths which interestingly is still the longest winning margin for the race and earned winner’s purse of Rs.20,250/- In contrast, the winner of this years renewal will carry home stake money of Rs.28,50,000/- which shows how just far the race has progressed over the years. Incidentally, Princess Beautiful turned out to be an exceptional filly who went on to win the 2000 Guineas and the Indian Derby that year.
Over the years several exceptional Fillies have gone on to win the 1000 Guineas, the most recent ones coming to mind including Myrtlewood, Mariinky, Jacqueline and Set Alight. This year’s renewal boasts a field of just 9 runners which makes it one of the smallest fields of this millennium, only Set Alight in 2009 took on a similar sized field. Of these 9 fillies, several appear to be way out of their league and may be contesting to try and gain some valuable Black Type and Stake Money and the race essentially appears to be between 3 principals, all of whom are closely matched and any of whom could overturn the others on her day.
RUFFINA (Excellent Art x Lady Danehill)
TRAINER :-Dallas Todywalla
WEIGHT:- 57kgs.
JOCKEY :- David Allan
DRAW :- 2
RATING :-96
Ruffina is the highest rated filly in the field and is also the only unbeaten runner having won every won of her 5 starts till date and to her advantage, seems to be peaking at just the right time. She was the champion Juvenile filly of last season, first shooting to prominence with her amazing win in the Gool S. Poonawalla Million where she sprinted away from a potentially quality field of youngsters to win by an astonishing 7 ½ lengths in a time just 0.18 seconds shy of the course record. She went on defeat the best of her generation in the Poonawalla Breeders Multimillion, again clocking a stunning time of 1.22.02 which was just a fraction off the 7 furlongs course record. Ruffina was then rested over the summer and her preparation for this race was interrupted by a couple of minor setbacks. She finally saw the race course again in October where she scored a workmanlike victory over Class II opposition over 6 furlongs, having to be shaken up although not fully stretched. She was understandably rusty that day and a different filly showed up on the opening day of the Mumbai meeting where she was visually impressive in tackling Class I opposition, comfortably accounting for Mygrator and Ship Rock and looking like she had improved significantly. She has yet to display the blinding speed and brilliance which she showed last season but that last run was encouraging for her to be able to stay the mile trip as she did not appear to be stopping towards the end. David Allan is a master tactician of pace and is sure to keep Ruffina in check until the time is right to make her move. Ruffina looks a leading contender to give Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla his first winner in this race in his colours since Free Radical way back in 2002. Incidentally Free Radical was also ridden by a foreign jockey – Johnny Murtagh.
LADY IN LACE (Chinese Whisper x Sea Spray)
TRAINER :-Prasad Raju
WEIGHT:- 57kgs.
JOCKEY :-SurajNarredu
DRAW :- 8
RATING :-89
The Queen Filly of Hyderabad – Lady In Lace has proved to be something of a phenomenon and has already established herself as one of the best milers of her generation whatever happens on Sunday. She has had plenty of racing already, travelling around the country with regularity and has stood up to her gruelling schedule quite admirably. She does not boast a particularly fashionable pedigree and her Trainer had only 1 previous Classic winner but she has proved herself to be something of a racing phenomenon, running an astonishing 14 times already and winning 8 of them. After a quiet juvenile season, Lady In Lace first shot to prominence when easily accounting for Windsor Forest in a 3 Year Old Million race in Hyderabad. She then went on to topple Manifold in the Deccan Fillies Trial Stakes in August before running a creditable race in defeat to Prevalent Force in the Deccan Derby in pouring rain. Unperturbed her Trainer brought her to Pune 2 weeks later where she annihilated the opposition to score a glorious 8 ¾ length win in the Pune Derby. She cantered home in the Golconda 1000 Guineas three weeks ago where she faced hardly any opposition and has arrived in Mumbai fresh and raring to go. Already a Multi Classic winner, she possesses a lovely temperament, a keen turn of foot and a willing attitude to not go down without a fight. She is looking to emulate Vijay’s Pride, who travelled down from Hyderabad to claim Guineas Glory back in 2012.
MANIFOLD (Multidimensional xDhaawiah)
TRAINER :-Pesi Shroff
WEIGHT:- 57 kgs.
JOCKEY :-NeerajRawal
DRAW :- 7
RATING :-88
Comes from the all conquering yard of Pesi Shroff and has raced 7 times till date, winning 4 of those and was a glorious winner of the Bangalore Summer Derby where she got the better of the brilliant Castlebridge close home. Manifold also came to hand slowly and steadily, first serving notice that she was above average when going down fighting to Themis in the Forbes Breeders Juvenile Fillies Championship over a mile last season. She summered in Bangalore where she developed her formidable reputation, trouncing a good field of Fillies in the Fillies Trial Stakes and then scoring a thrilling victory in the Bangalore Derby. She had her reputation dented when easily accounted for by Lady In Lace in the Deccan Fillies Trial and was rested since then, making her comeback just 3 weeks ago. Manifold put in a workmanlike effort to defeat Themis conceding 4 kilos by 2 lengths but she must have been rusty after the long break and is sure to have come on appreciably since then. Her trainer has enjoyed Phenomenal success in recent years in this particular Classic but Manifold appears to be more of a strong galloping type who lacks the brilliant turn of foot possessed by the milers. She is rated just 1 point below Lady In Lace and is sure to trouble the two brilliant milers and has to be respected
It will be very surprising if the race were to go out of these three who look head and shoulders above their rivals. The other runners worthy of a mention are :-
WINDSOR FOREST (Phoenix Tower xSamsa)
TRAINER :-Pesi Shroff
WEIGHT:- 57 kgs.
JOCKEY :- P. Trevor
DRAW :- 3
RATING :-68
Appears to be the 2nd string from the Pesi Shroff yard but looks a dark horse who has the potential to cause an upset. The big drawback for Windsor Forest is that she last raced on the 30th of August and is coming into this race without a preparatory run after a gap of almost 4 months – a big ask for any horse and particularly in a Classic race. Windsor Forest has run 8 times with 3 wins to her name and notably she has finished 2 lengths behind both Manifold and Lady In Lace on 2 separate occasions over this trip so she does not have to improve all that much to trouble the principals. She is also a dual Classic winner, winning the Nilgiris 1000 Guineas and most recently, the Kolkotta Fillies Trial Stakes. She did have a Mock Race a couple of weeks ago and would be the proverbial Joker in the pack here
THEMIS (Lord Shanakill x Soul Society)
TRAINER :-M. K. Jadhav
WEIGHT:- 57 kgs.
JOCKEY :- A. Sandesh
DRAW :- 9
RATING :-71
Themis had the distinction of beating Manifold as a juvenile early last year but then found the Shroff filly improving way past her and has been soundly beaten by her on subsequent occasions. She finished 4th in the Bangalore Fillies Trial, 2 lengths behind Windsor Forest and was subsequently thrashed by Lady In Lace in the Pune Derby where she appeared not to run her race. In her lead up race, Manifold gave her 4 kilos and a 2 length beating so it does not look conceivable that she can turn the tables in such a short period of time but she could be a frame contender
BOTTEGA LOUIE (Excellent Art x Amazing Queen)
TRAINER :-S. K. Sunderji
WEIGHT:- 57 kgs.
JOCKEY :- A. Imran Khan
DRAW :- 6
RATING :-51
The most lightly raced filly in the field and although a race of this stature is coming too early in her career, she looks a potentially nice sort. She has run just 4 times till date, scoring an upset shock win on debut in the Vivono Million where she beat a good quality field and was the total outsider of the bunch. She ran creditably on her reappearance in Pune as well when finishing runner up to New England who is currently competing in Group Company. On her penultimate run, she reared up and lost plenty of ground at the start and could not be a factor thereafter but made amends on her seasonal debut where she comfortably accounted for Cambridge before being rather unjustly stood down in the Stewards Room. Her form is still some level below what is required at this level but she appears to have potential.
CONCLUSION :-A thrilling battle is anticipated between Ruffina, Lady in Lace and Manifold with the superior riding of David Allan and her potent turn of foot just giving Ruffina a narrow edge plus the fact that she seems to be peaking at the right time. The first 3 should finish very close to each other and well clear of the rest of the field.
(Disclaimer : Views are entirely that of the correspondent only and RWITC takes no responsibility for the same)
