PAST THE POST - A Review of the Threptin Fillies' & Mares' Stakes (Grade 3) - By Cyrus Naterwalla
Posted on - 09 Oct 2018
PAST THE POST – A Review of the Threptin Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes (Grade 3)
- By Cyrus Naterwalla
The Fillies’ & Mares Stakes is traditionally run in the first week of October just preceding the Pune Derby and provides an excellent opportunity for mares to gain some valuable Black Type to add substance to their breeding value as it attracts Fillies and Mares from Age 3 upwards. This year’s renewal attracted a small field of 6 runners and looked a touch short on quality with 2 of the 6 runners – Turning Point and Zanara essentially handicappers with a rating below Class I. The field was headed by the wonder filly Lady In Lace who had trounced all before her on this track just about a year ago when storming home in the Pune Derby before going on to Classic Glory. However, there were rumours floating around that she was not the same filly who had swept all before her in the past 12 months as on her last outing in her home centre of Hyderabad, she had failed miserably as an odds on choice in The Nizam’s Cup over 2000M surrendering tamely to Kangra and even failing to hold the runner up Captain Morgan. In addition, she was conceding 10 kilos to her 2 main rivals – Auburn and Watchmyscript. Of these, the latter had finished runner up to “The Lady” in 2 races over a mile in Bangalore but was now better placed at the weights while Auburn appeared to be a late maturing type who had run with credit against the Colts last time out. The betting reflected these worries as Lady In Lace was quoted at an unusually generous 16/10 against while both Watchmyscript and Auburn were well supported at 4/1.
Zanara as expected hit the front to make the early running and kept the pace a steady one to Winter Renaissance ridden more prominently than normal in 2nd spot with Auburn travelling strongly in 3rd and being tracked on the outside by Lady In Lace who in spite of the small field, was ridden 3 off the fence by Trevor. Watchmyscript was a length and a half away in 5th with Turning Point, who lost a little ground on jump out, catching up to be a close last. The pace began to quicken passing the1000M marker with Auburn moving up into 2nd just shading Winter Renaissance and Lady In Lace and Watchmyscript both racing together and also making progress with Turning Point still last. Winter Renaissance was the first one off the bridle as they rounded the bend with Auburn moving up to join Zanara, Lady In Lace now racing 3rd just shading Winter Renaissance with Watchmyscript also just being niggled to improve about a length away. Auburn took it up on straightening for home but was immediately joined by Watchmyscript moving up strongly on the stands side with Lady In Lace in between the pair under pressure with Trevor pulling his stick through but not getting the desired response. Watchmyscript was just a neck up with a furlong to go but she drew away in the last 150M with Sandesh not needing the stick and just pushing out with hands and heels and the margin of victory was over 3 lengths at the wire. Lady In Lace and Auburn fought it out all the way to the line for the runner up spot with the latter being hard ridden to finish 2nd by a short neck. Auburn who was well placed but could not quicken when push came to shove ended up a close 3rd with a break of 2 ½ lengths to Winter Renaissance who ran on late to take 4th. The two handicappers were clearly outclassed and occupied the final two berths.
While it was clear that Lady In Lace was not at her best, take nothing away from the winner who has been running consistently in her last several starts and deserves this Group Race success. Her connections were visibly elated as Irfan Ghatala rarely makes forays into Western India but was rewarded for this one. Lady In Lace probably needs a rest after a long season and may come back refreshed as she has clearly gone off the boil in her last 2 starts. The winner may stay on in Pune to compete in the season ending RWITC Ltd. Gold Cup
(Disclaimer : Views are entirely that of the correspondent only and RWITC takes no responsibility for the same)
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