Dr MAM Ramaswamy, the most famous horse owner and Guiness record holder, adds another trophy to his belt on Sunday.
Dr MAM Ramaswamy, the most famous horse owner in Indian racing historyu00a0whose name is already in the Guiness book of records for winning a recordu00a0number of Classics, added one more to his tally when Maple Star, sportingu00a0his silks of 'GOLD, Brown belt' won the grade 1, Indian Oaks, the featureu00a0event of Mahalaxmi races on Sunday. The winner was trained by Karthiku00a0Ganapathy and ridden by B Sreekanth. 'Ramu', as Dr Ramaswamy isu00a0affectionately called in racing circles, thus completed an Oaks treble thisu00a0month, having already won the Bangalore Oaks with Snow Bird & Golconda Oaksu00a0with Simply Stylish.
When the starter flagged off the dozen fillies, Jamie Spencer astrideu00a0Songlark set a moderate pace with Maple Star stalking her, followed byu00a0favourite Vijay's Pride in mid-bunch and second favourite Showin'off in theu00a0rear along with Simply Stylish who everyone mistook to be Ramu's mainu00a0contender because foreigner Colm O'Donoghue was imported to ride her. Mapleu00a0Star took charge heading for the final turn, and though Vijay's Pride madeu00a0up some ground and rank outsider Song Dynasty came up well from way back,u00a0Maple Star was never in danger of being caught though she veered out a bit
under the pressure.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Not many people know, but Maple Star is not exactly a sound horse, she hasu00a0a problem in one of the joints," trainer Karthik reaveled after leading inu00a0the winner, "that's the reason she flopped in the 1000 Guineas when sheu00a0must have felt her legs--thank God, today was different."
Karthik also gave complete credit to "Boss" (Ramu) who planned a perfectu00a0strategy. "We decided to split our two runners, Maple Star in front andu00a0Simply Stylish at the back, so that most rivals would think Maple Star isu00a0doing the pacemaker's role."
"That's precisely what happened," winning jockey B Sreekanth for whom thisu00a0was the first success in an Indian Classic, confirmed, "I went with theu00a0pace, and asked her to keep going, and she responded well. Everything justu00a0fell in place."
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
