Panchshil Million Day Brings Unique Venetian Theme - By Mahendra Mallya
Posted on - 19 Sep 2012
Panchshil Million Day Brings Unique Venetian Theme
By Mahendra Mallya
The Panchshil Juvenile Million day, sponsored by the Chordia family, brought in a unique Venetian theme to the Pune racecourse. Blending with some courageous and commendable performances on the race track, where fast action unfolded with regularity race after race, was the ‘Human Statues’ that left many wonderstruck. In the sponsors’ enclosure, a lady-in-white (literally, she was painted white all over) was sprouting water through her fingers standing amidst a small pool, depicting a Human Fountain. Her robotic movements were striking and one had to scrutinize closely to know it was not a mechanism but a human at work. The occasional blink of her eyes was all that gave her away. There were a couple of other such statues one titled the ‘Dancing Table’ which was laudable.
Whatever the Chordias do, they do with panache. A petite, attractive Gold Trophy along with a rich purse was at stake for the Panchshil Juvenile Million race. Smart Strider had to beat 10 rivals to have this exquisitely crafted trophy dispatched to Chennai for his owner Dr MAM Ramaswamy to exhibit on his well-filled trophy mantle. There were special prizes as well for those who took care for minute details and spent time in choosing their attire for the racecourse. The most fashionably turned out were duly acknowledged and awarded the Best Dressed and Best accessorized on the day, for both genders.
Smart Strider won in the category of ‘Best Galloper’ though. He bounded forward in the homestretch with a chilling run that left Ice Zone frozen. Well, the previous statement was just to play with words, in fact, Ice Zone finished a good second, going down fighting all the way. Smart Strider was as forceful as during his previous two victories, only this time, the urge and the whipping was slightly prolonged.
Trainer Karthik proudly led in the winner. He had revealed during Smart Strider’s last victory that he would go for the Panchshil Million. Karthik had then predicted that his ward should be able to pull it off given his current form and that prophecy proved spot on. “Yes, I am happy the prediction proved accurate. I must admit though that giving weight to Catharsis who had beaten us in Mumbai was on our minds. However, boss (Dr MAM) was relaxed. Although he agreed that Catharsis was the one to beat, he was confident that Smart Strider had improved sufficiently to reverse the Mumbai result,” said trainer Karthik.
Asked for his view on the alarming improvement that Smart Strider has shown this season, Karthik commented, “We did away with the tongue strap and that seemed to have worked wonders. In Mumbai, he would be reluctant to gallop once the jockey alerted him. He would push his tongue over the bit and would never focus. So the tongue strap seemed the ideal solution. However, I recently sent him on work without the tongue strap and he showed marked difference in that workout. That prompted me to remove the tongue strap and he is a lot happier without it.”
Asked what next with Smart Strider, Karthik replied, “He has earned his rest. I will probably not race him in Pune anymore. I see good potential in him, would love to see him rise to the level of Forest Flair (Forest Flair had peaked to a rating of 127). I agree it is much too early, but I see that potential in him. Speed is his forte so the natural target is the Sprinters’ Cup. But again, it’s too early to commit. I will do what it takes to groom him for the sprints surely”.
The DNA Salver saw a keen contest build up nicely with half a dozen of the 13 contenders jostling at the turn. However, Stormy Princess ruled the final 100 meters to chalk out an impressive victory with a nippy finish, zooming past Zoom Zoom and nullify the latter’s start to finish mission. Stormy Princess was sixth at the turn with Zoom Zoom leading them into the straight. Amyn 
Merchant had settled the Katrak filly quite nicely along the rails and the moment Zoom Zoom shifted out slightly, Merchant, piloted the filly through the gap and got the best out of her without having to use the whip. This was a splendid victory for the Haresh & Manav Mehta owned filly. Her manner of victory suggests that she could pick up a couple more.
Mr Deepak Lokhande, Editor, DNA Pune, along with Mr Sanjay Pawar, VP Corp, DNA, Pune, presented the DNA Salver which trainer Cooji Katrak received on behalf of the Mehtas. “It was a thrilling race and it has been a pleasure to be associated with the RWITC as media partners,” said Mr Laokhande. Mr Vivek Jain, Chairman, RWITC, presented them a memento on behalf of the Club thanking the DNA for their association.
On Saturday the biggie was the Idar Gold Trophy (Gr 3). Spearhead upset his mighty opponents with a superlative start-to-finish success with surprising ease. Trainer SS Attolahi who missed saddling Spearhead due to his travelling schedule, said over a tele-conversation, “We had initially set sights on Hyderabad for the President Of Indian Gold Cup, however, In The Spotlight’s presence there made me switch to Pune for the Idar Gold Trophy. Spearhead was in good nick but the fella has been notoriously unpredictable. He has a history for foxing us, winning against the odds and failing to live up to expectations when we felt that things were in his favour. He is a difficult horse to ride as well. Ryan Marshall knows him best so we decided to put him on ahead of Trevor. Over the longer trips, Spearhead has always relished being up with the pace, if not make his own pace. He did extremely well to win the Idar Gold Trophy start to finish.”
Asked if he gave his ward a realistic chance to win, Attaollahi replied, “To be honest, I thought we had to beat Hills And Stars as the filly had beaten Spearhead in the Governor’s Cup (August, Bangalore). At the weights, I was confidently hopeful of beating Macchupicchu. I think Ryan did a great job. I recall Spearhead in his early days. He was not firing to potential despite all efforts. Mr Zyen Mirza, Pesi and I were discussing him and they both suggested we geld him. I did not agree with them then, but I finally went by their suggestion and I am glad I did. It made a huge difference as Spearhead started winning races with regularity soon after.”
Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, whose filly Hills And Stars flew towards the end of the race said, “The luck of the race marred her progress. Getting blocked for passage in a five horse field is terrible. She got stuck behind Ocean And Beyond and could not skirt around as Native Knight made his move at the same juncture. As a result, Hills And Stars lost a couple of lengths, also her momentum. That was fatal. She picked up again and you saw how she finished. I am not disappointed though. We are now targeting the Hyderabad St Leger and I am confident she will do well there,” he concluded.
Mrs Viveka Kumari Idar, daughter of Mr Rajinder Singh Idar, was elegantly dressed in a traditional Sari looking royally graceful. She handed over the Idar Trophy to Pesi Shroff who received the trophy on behalf of Dr Vijay Mallya. Shroff had stood-in for Spearhead’s trainer SS Attaollahi in saddling the horse.
Trainer Hormuz Antia was forceful during the weekend returning with four winners. Three of the four namely, Warrior Prince, Seen It All and Voyager were backed with a fair degree of confidence, while Mountain Regiment was not exactly a rank outsider either. Antia’s strike rate with well-backed horses is consistent and considering the ordinary string of horses he has in his arsenal, this is indeed commendable.
Trainer Pesi Shroff is not firing the way he normally does. There have been far more disappointments than normal. However, like a true professional, he is taking it in his stride. “In every sport, the ups and downs are inevitable. One has to live and learn from it. Even as a jockey, I have gone through some bad patches in my career. So this is not new or unfamiliar. It is a matter of time and the ideal thing is to stay focused and patient. It is a matter of time before things will fall in place. I am not unduly perturbed, there are a lot more races to come and I have a good string of horses. I am sure the latter half of the season will be much brighter,” he said with confidence.
Another big weekend is approaching with the SA Poonawalla Multi-Million and the Villoo C Poonawalla Gold Trophy in the offing. As usual grand prizes are on offer courtesy the Poonawallas. The Maruti car as grand prize has always been fondly looked forward to by the masses. Some of the best three-year-olds will vie for the Grade II SA Poonawalla Multi-Million, a race over a mile. Bizarro was most impressive in his last outing and he surely will be one among the favorites.
