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Wednesday, 19 February 2025

Meropi upstaged the multi-graded winner

Trainer Aashay Doctor's Meropi continues to go from strength to strength. On her way of winning the prestigious Calcutta Gold Cup, a terms race over 1,600m at the RCTC raceground, on Thursday.

Babbu Moshaai 20 December 2024

Trainer Aashay Doctor’s Meropi continues to go from strength to strength. On her way of winning the prestigious Calcutta Gold Cup, a terms race over 1,600m at the RCTC raceground, on Thursday. In the process, the Western Aristocrat-Panamera daughter notched up her fifth win in a row and, it was jockey Yash Narredu who partnered the amazing four-year-old filly who incidentally, made it to a start-to-finish effort to beat the multi-graded race winner, A Star Is Born.
  Interestingly, close finishes were the order of the day, with favourites falling by the wayside, leaving punters running for cover. The following are the detailed observations of the afternoon’s races:
   First race: The Aemilia Handicap, 1,100m Rt: 1-26 (4-2-6):  Trainer Neil Darashah had his share of double, scoring through a consistent Honey Cake (J.H.Arul-up) who, scored with a clinical pillar to post effort over trainer Vikash Jaiswal's 5/4 favourite Sporting Trainer, ridden by the mighty Suraj Narredu.  Not only Sporting Trainer but his stable-mate Sun God (Vinay Jaiswal), too, were no match for the winner.
   Second race: The Galasiels Cup, Rt 61-86: 1.400m: (2-3-4):  The race witnessed, Aashay Doctor’s 15/1 shot, Great Guns (Yash), a Hyderabad import, coming from the wrong end of the field, to pip the battling fancied duo of Darashah’s Blinky Bill (Mhatre) and Adhiraj Jodha’s Winter Agenda (P.S.Kaviraj). Ignore the run of the fancied Dali Swirl who finished a close fourth.
   Third race: The Wheels Handicap, Div-1, Rt 21-46 (6-7-3): The Javed Khan trained Tres Bien (R.Vaibhav-up), was another long priced runner, who also dropped a bombshell. The six-year-old just nosed-out a strongly fancied Chillilady (Anthony Raj), from B. Mahesh’s yard. The Lady was taken on a pillar-to-post mission but the masculine power prevailed over the fairer sex. For the records, Tres Bien was brought the shortest way home to beat the leader in his last stride, and thus scoring his back-to-back wins.
  Fourth race: The Wheels Handicap, Div-2, Rt-21-46 ,1,100m [4-1-6]: Bharath Singh trained Eagles Flight (R. Vaibhav-up), was another one to score an encore. However, the filly tended to shift out in the home straight, and yet took a comfortable measure of the B. Mahesh-trained Into The Storm who may have needed the run. However, the winner is in great heart and should be backed till beaten.
   Fifth race: The Desert Warrior Cup, Rt 81 & and above. 1,200m (1-2-7) Trainer Neil’s game galloper Cool Rider (Mhatre-up) made it a start-to-finish affair, to his advantage. He tackled a strong challenge from Black Eagle (Sandesh). The fancied pair of runners, King’s Retreat and Clifford, who fought for minor places, will be heard of again.
  Sixth race: The Calcutta Gold Cup, Gr-I: Terms, 3-year-old and over, 1,600m (3-2-1): There is every reason to repeat that Meropi’s victory was a smashing one and the amazing filly may continue to do well over her favourite distances  in the coming weeks.
   Seventh race: The Ardelis Handicap, Div -!, Rt.21-66; 1,200m (7-6-2): Trainer Adhiraj Jodha charge, Pure For Sure (Kaviraj-up), a 5/1 chance, fought out gallantly to stave off the big challenge from Dr. Anil Kumar’s Liban who seems to be improving  with each run.
   Eighth  race: The Ardelis Handicap, Div -II, Rt. 21-66; 1,200m (2-3-5): The lower division, on the other hand, witnessed the well backed  favourite Fiery Red (Sandesh) digging deep into her reserves to get the better of Aashay’s Light The World (Yash Narredu) and Darashah’s Over the Line (J.H.Arul) in a three way close finish.
 Notable Runners:
Light the world, Black Eagle, Meropi, Liban, Blinky Bill and Sporting Trainer.

 

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