Exciting finish likely in mid-day Trophy

First a frank confessionI have been covering the sport of horse racing for midday for 21 years now and have been exceptionally lucky in accurately spotting the winner of the midday trophy 11 times in the last 13 years of its running These past years have featured a variety of handicapping puzzles There have been fields of as many as 18 runners and there have been as many as seven horses in a field of 15 that were making debut and hence were unknown entities But never have I found the line up of the midday trophy as puzzling as the one that is slated for today at the Mahalaxmi racetrackJockey Yash Narredu with winning horse Speed King during last years midday Trophy at MahalaxmiActually there are only ten 3y olds in the fray and only three of them are firsttimers but the better among them are so evenly matched I feel talent experience preparation and riders skill will have to combine with luck of the race for one of them to emerge as a decisive winner of the 2016 midday trophy which will be flagged off by the starter at 430 pm from the sevenfurlong marker of the Mahalaxmi racetrackThe experienced trioMy Dynamic Ratings are generally quite dependable for all races involving threeyearolds but they hint at a very close fight for three of the seven in the fray who have had the benefit of at least one run They are Star Scholar Silver Beauty amp Covert Action Interestingly all three of them are being ridden by top jockeys so there may not be much to choose on that scoreStar Scholar tops the Dynamic Rating chart and is the only horse who has taken a massive jump in raw speed figures between its two runs on this track A chestnut colt by Ace out of Scholastic Giant Star Scholar is trained by Dallas Todywalla and will be ridden by A Sandesh Silver Beauty the more forward of the Malesh Narredutrained pair made a rather remarkable debut when she finished fourth to Glorious Eyes over six furlongs giving indication that she will be a force to reckon with over the extended trip Covert Action who may be neglected by the betting market finished a good seven lengths behind Star Scholar when the latter lost to Germanicus may improve most dramatically in his second start And with the B Prakash stable firing with jockey PS Chouhan Covert Action must be regarded as the proverbial joker in the pack for the midday trophy line upGunning for gloryYou can be sure in a glamorous race like the midday trophy every runner irrespective of the level of fitness will attempt to put its best hoof forward pun intended to have a shot at glory and that brings a couple of more horses under the discussion like trainer Narendra Lagads Rock In Rio entrusted to Dashrath Singh and Vineshs Alpine Express to be ridden by Neeraj Rawal What must be remembered is that both these riders can display some dazzling form when in their element and can take performance of their mounts a notch or two higher Another one who will be secretly hoping to recapture the glory he basked in last year is teenager Yash Narredu who will be astride the first timer VolantisDanger to allThe big threat to all of them will be Costa Smeralda a dark bay filly by Uncle Mo out of Karakorum Splendour whom her trainer Pesi Shroff officially describes as not exactly tuned with this race in view But you can certainly ignore the Pesi Shroff when it comes to tipping his own horses because those who know him know it only too well that the champion trainer generally doesnt like to paint a very rosy picture for his firsttimersAs handicapper I must stress the point that if Costa Smeralda has classand there is absolutely no reason to believe she does notthen even with 70 percent fitness she can make a winning debut in this set