Posted On Monday, February 04, 2013 at 08:10:43 AM
|
|
|
|
Deepak Turbhekar
|
 |
|
Jimmy Fortune-ridden Super Storm going past the winning post ahead of Wind Stream and Hemisphere
|
Mumbai - Like every race-horse owner she kept dreaming of winning a Derby with the first purchase she made by buying a share in a horse named Super Storm. As it turned out to be, it was a classic case of so-near-yet-so-far for the thirty something professional beautician R Rajamma when her joint property Super Storm was vanquished in the regional derbies both at Mysore and Bangalore. Yet she didn’t lose hope and kept dreaming.
Her dream came true and how. Super Storm swamped his sixteen opponents in the McDowell Signature Premier Indian Derby yesterday and scripted a happy ending to the heartbreaking story of his petite owner.
 |
|
Co-owner R Rajamma holds aloft the Indian Derby Trophy after Super Storm’s victory
|
Super Storm made a cool crore and eight lakh rupees for his owners by winning the richest horse-racing event of the country.
Super Storm, who raced in the colours of joint owners Rajesh Narredu, Ananta Cham Dev Raju, R Cham Devraju and R Rajamma, was not in the reckoning as a winner in the minds of the racing pundit and punters.
But the four-year-old bay colt put in a stupendous run when put into top gear by Irish jockey Jimmy Fortune at the distance post.
Super Storm breezed past favourite Machiavellianism and then held fort when another favourite Wind Stream came with an intimidating run as also Hemisphere.
Super Storm was over a length clear of Wind Stream as he sashayed past the winning post amidst a loud cheer.
Flawless Ride
Despite his consistent performance down south, Super Storm’s defeat at the hands of Wind Stream had put off the punters and when the latter skipped the Bangalore event and landed in Mumbai last month, it was taken that the race was Wind Stream’s for the asking.
Another factor which worked against Super Storm in the punter’s minds was that the horse had to undertake a strenuous journey before arriving at Mahalaxmi and that could take a toll on his ability.
That racing is full or irony and uncertainty was proved once more when Super Storm not only stayed the gruelling mile-and-half Derby trip but also showed that he had the turn of foot to leave his rivals dazed.
Fortune settled Super Storm close to the rails in the third spot as Angel Crown and Montezuma called the early shots and then rode a flawless race throughout. Super Storm fell back slightly after receiving interference before the final turn but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Satish Narredu trained colt.
Super Storm got a breather in the bargain and when Fortune asked him for an effort, the wide open space ahead gave him an opportunity to raise a fluent gallop. He made steady progress, though he knocked off New World and An Acquired Taste in the last furlong, and wore down Machiavellianism initially and the race was as good as over for the colt. He not only avenged his twin classic defeats at the
Colour Jinx
As he had suffered thrice in a row, Super Storm’s four owners decided to break the jinx by changing the colour of the silks worn by the jockey. The trick worked though and the horse ran in the new colours of Rajesh Narredu. Strangely, when Super Storm set out for Mumbai, trainer Satish Narredu had no jockey in mind who would ride his charge.
But as luck would have it, Jimmy Fortune had arrived to ride for Shapoor Mistry, who readily acceded to Narredu’s request to lend him the services of the Irish rider.
Summing up the race adeptly, Fortune said, “There were no super stars in the race and the horse was amazingly fresh despite running over an identical distance and then travelling to Mumbai all within a week. It’s to the credit of Satish who brought him to this fitness.” Satish had last won this event as a jockey when he rode Amazing Bay to the historic maiden Indian Derby victory of MAM Ramaswamy
|
06:34:52 PM