Bateleur plays catch-me-if-you-can

Representational picture

Bateleur, taken on a start-to-finish mission by jockey Neeraj Rawal, swept rivals off their feet to win the R M & Rukmani Goculdas Million, the feature event of Sunday's six-race card at Mahalaxmi.

The Vishal Gaikwad-trained five-year-old, who opened as the ante-post favourite, went up in the odds thanks to some inspired support received by the Imtiaz Sait-trained New England (Sandesh up) who enjoyed post-time favouritism at 16/10, a shade stronger than Bateleur, who was quoted at 18/10.

Hot pace
If the pre-race betting action thus hinted at a hair-raising duel between the two main rivals, that expectation went for a complete toss as Bateleur took off smartly, ran like a scalded cat, and cut such blazing fractions that all his four rivals were out of breath by the time Bateleur turned in for the final lap.

Only Master Of Universe (P S Chouhan up) tried to give him a chase, but could just not match strides with the winner who posted a stylish victory, clocking one minute 22.04 seconds for the trip of seven furlongs.

Winning debut
Kildare, the property of Mrs M B Dubash & Ms Farida B Dubash, won the supporting event, the Karl Umrigar Trophy. It was the three-year-old colt's first career run, and he won rather comfortably in the hands of A Sandesh, sparing two-and-a-quarter lengths to Conscience (Yash Narredu up). Kildare, a Leitir Mor colt out of Awarding, was trained by S K Sunderji.

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