Ministerian reveals his Classic intentions

BANGALORE

MINISTERIAN STEPPED out of the Summer shadow and has now revealved a thing or two about his classic intentions. Minutes after Ministerian pounced on a well merited field like a hungry tiger on a bunch of unsuspecting deer, the thoughts had quickly turned to the Republic Day Winter Derby as the Foyer-Ministrella gelding's prime target.

The week's other sensation was Desert Lord, who has now been moulded into racing ship-shape by Michael Eshwer. It is one thing to have a bred-in-the-purple product in the stable and quite another to tap that bloodline promise to the fullest possible extent.

This fashionably bred Placerville-Divine Light gelding has taken his time to furnish.

He will turn four on the New Year's day. But the wait has been worth its while in the words of Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, who says the gelding was given as much time as possible to strengthen himself. ``I would like to let him win his share of races and target him for Black Type races and possibly the Indian St.Leger.

The problem with Desert Lord had nothing to do with the physical aspects. The gelding came to hand very late. There is no doubt that some deep thought would go into Desert Lord's programming. Inexperience may stand in the way of this gelding taking Derby pot shots at either Bangalore or Mumbai. Those targets may be too close for him to attain the kind of toughness these races demand. Nevertheless Desert Lord is bound to attract keen attention in the next few months.

On the evidence of this spectacular run it can now be reasonably argued that the Jim Foley trained Ministerian deserves a respectful reference. Those who have been closely monitoring the rise and the brief fall this summer of Ministerian are in no doubt that there is a sea change in the gelding and that he has come through with flying colours a stern test of his inner strength.

Twice shown his place by Crystal Man and Baffin Bay in two successive big race attempts, there was understandable sense of dismay that this talented gelding is not living up to the promise of his bloodline. Ministerian left his owner Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy in a state of ecstacy he so expertly hid behind a satisfying smile in the full knowledge that the best is yet to come and it could well be in that gruelling stamina contest on January 26.

You need tons of confidence to pull yourself out of the race and conjure an express train finish like Richard Hughes did. What made this particular piece of riding tactics by Hughes even more exciting was the fact that a race prior to this he had grabbed the first chance to dash across to the front on Silver Patriarch. The grey had taken that few weeks rest and a push down to a lower category so well that he won in a common canter ahead of Star Festival and Sleek Gold.

Ministerian's last-to-first in the straight reflected the gelding's preparedness for trips longer than a mile. That smooth action is a positive clue that Jim Foley has managed to turn Ministerian's racing psyche around to the point of fine-tuning him to perform at his best at the first crack of a whip flap.

The mock race the other day was such a great help in plumbing Ministerian's depth and probably with that feed back in mind, Hughes almost shut himself off, as if the pair was not in the race. Not until Astronautics had feigned ascendancy and Sea Classic had called that bluff did Hughes move a muscle. But once he did almost unnoticed from the back of the field, the rest looked so pathetic and the sight itself was one of boundless thrill. Unable to make an iota of an impact on the widening margin, Sea Classic served his own cause well by finishing ahead of a group of well-heeled class oners, kind of a rebuff that his last start win was no flash in the pan and he is a much better horse than he is given credit for.

The day carried a special Mallesh Narredu tack. With Innara winning at Mumbai on Thursday, Mallesh ticked his career's 998th win and looked on course to complete that magical 1,000 winners. Mallesh had four bookings on the day. Four good reasons chroniclers thought why it should not be a gold-lettered day for him. But as it turned out, the Mallesh household reportedly in high spirits and readiness to give him a traditional felicitation at home that evening, had to put it off for another day. Mallesh got to 999 with Star Venture bolting in and left in a hurry for Mumbai where Sunday was not so fruitful either. Incidentally, former jockey Karan Singh a member of the 1,000 winners elite but now a successful trainer must have been half expecting the BTC to seek the trophy that was given to him when he piloted his 1,000th winner. Because that is what happened when the last man in, Aslam Khader completed this milestone. Of course Karan was handed back his prized possession.! Things may have changed. There is enough time for the BTC to get a memento handy! Guess who would heave a sigh of relief, Karan Singh.

So each one of Mallesh's rides kept the stands abuzz. Silver Hope did everything equinely possible to catch North Ridge without success. The winner, while gladdening his trainer's heart also meant a jot of trouble for S. S. Pillay with the Stipes finding a pattern of inconsistency in the running of North Ridge. For a horse which had run mid-pack last time less than 10 lengths behind the winner and had not done badly in the first two outings this season, a fine of Rs. 5,000 seems a bit harsh. With better assistance Silk Petals should have finished much closer while Divisional's run cannot be taken at face value.

Strides of Fire turned in an impressive performance to keep first timer Far Excellence at a safe distance to boost his image as more than a useful type in the making. The runner-up has potential to go far.

With Sir Divine standing out in a poor bunch his win was more or less taken for granted. Later in the day, Sidney Moses led in another winner. This time Passionate Nights, who tackled Stella Blue close home. Lloyd Marshall rode a tidy finish on the winner. Noble Rose left the Mallesh followers high and dry. Appu stood in for indisposed Srinath on Careless Beauty, who continues to show indifferent form, heightening speculation whether she will ever run to her true potential at all. Mohan Valavi's Save The Day dealt the odds on Super Premium a cruel blow. The chestnut filly hit the front and was kept going by Prithviraj even as Super Premium made a heavy weather of his chase. Risk Me Now is worth a risk now that the filly has made herself known.

When Star Venture grabbed Tina's Tune by his throat a furlong out it was plain that Haynes Park would be a shocking also ran. On the strength of her previous run second which was fraught with many unpleasant happenings, the Byramji's ward justifiably garnered massive support. The filly appeared to run green and looked completely out of sorts.

Whether the saddle assitance by J D Smith was adequate or not is hard to say but a casual eye could easily pick up a long way from home that Haynes Park, having lost a forward position, had put herself at a premium to do anything better than what she ended up doing. Pretty Boy Floyd's stretch effort was noteworthy.

Injury-hit Mrs Silva Storai returned to the saddle and made her first ride a winning one. Having lived through the trauma of a surgery on her leg and a lengthy convalesence, the near start to finish win on Devonlock must have come as a pleasurable relief. Irfan Ghatala's ward has always been a habitual front runner who at six is no pushover as low- weighted Bounty Bay realised to his chagrin.

The two kilos overweight that Silva carried meant nothing. Veena's Pet, a brave filly who had grown out of physical deformities in her formative years to earn all round respect as a good type sprinter, blotted her copy book with a doleful display. When asked to quicken, she could hardly raise herself to the demand and fizzled out of sight.

Raaz was the medium of a well-laid gamble and won as any such proposition ought to.

Both Savage Heart and Lady Chestorford looked like making a race of it at one stage in the final furlong before settling for minor honours.

Paul Eddery made a near perfect landing on Crystal Sky. With the nearest rival Almaz making no impression, the win for the Padmanabhan trainee was never in doubt. Cyclades bears watching.

The five-year-old appeared to have given up his fight for the third place with Oser before taking that dispute to the judges. Barely a neck seperated the two indicating that Cyclades was in a mood for a second wind.

If the luck of the race deserts you even the best in the business can do little.

Paul Eddery came back with a sorry tale on Regal Wind who ran into more than one traffic snarl to eventually finish full of running behind Joint Command, who no doubt had the requisite merit to carry the day having spent his time earlier with better class horses.

H. S. MANJUNATH

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