Jamari runs away with honours

As the clock struck 4:15 pm on a gloomy Sunday evening, C Umesh pulled Jamari out of the gates in haste and veered right into the rails for the lead in the 2000-metre main event.  

At the time, the experts reckoned the pace too frenetic to maintain, but two-or-so minutes in, they were in awe as the three-year-old filly claimed the Bangalore Summer Derby (Grade I). 

She finished just as she started: on top. And as beautifully as her Arabic name suggested.  

Also Read | Synthesis starts firm favourite

It wasn’t supposed to play out this way for Synthesis, ridden by Suraj Narredu, was the favourite, while Jamari was given the next-best odds, mostly because of Pesi Shroff’s hand in training the Nanoli Stud product. 

Shroff, by admission, has won far more Derbys (as a jockey and as a trainer) than he could care to remember, but for Umesh, this was his first, and you could tell the magnitude of the moment as he waved his whip in the air with his head down as he galloped past the finish line - seven lengths ahead of second-placed Auspicious Queen.

Destroyer, ridden by Imran Chisty, finished an honourable third, and much to everyone’s surprise, Synthesis ended fourth. In fact, there was only one brief moment in the race where Synthesis was in the top three, and that came as the rather neatly coordinated pack entered the final bend. 

Coincidentally, Umesh chose the same moment to make his way past Champions Way after having spent some time on his heels. He went past Yash Narredu’s left and gently angled Jamari back towards the rails. He was ahead for now, but with the other runners making moves in a whipping frenzy, no one could be sure yet. 

That was until Umesh went on an all-out push with 600 metres remaining. It was a blitz none of the runners expected for Jamari left them the dust to make it four wins out of six races in her young career.  

Auspicious Queen’s run too must be lauded for the filly was hanging tight among mid-runners until taking off from a wide angle with 200 meters left. Destroyer did much the same, only Chisty’s colt didn’t have the legs, or the lungs, left to push Angad’s filly further.

The headliner lasted all of 2:09.58 and earned the owners close to Rs 1 crore, but it was the lead-up that had everyone talking for it was engrossing on its own.  

While 7,500-odd punters packed into the confines of the heritage building, it was the fourth race on the card - The Coromandel Gromor BTC Anniversary Cup (Grade II) - that brought in the energy. 

Northern Lights, yet another Shroff product, produced a blinder of a run to record his sixth consecutive victory. The gelding, ridden by Trevor Patel, showed why he was so favoured as he relied on his 21-race experience to leave Supreme Dance and Evaldo fighting for second and third. 

Things heated up the next race as Booster Shot obliterated the odds to win the 1600-metre Hooves of Steel Sumangala TMT Million. With odds of 15:1, the colt ridden by Akshay Kumar had no business toppling the established order, but he managed to pull his neck ahead at the last second to edge second-placed Sassy. 

Now, the stage was set for the main event, and even a brief drizzle 15 minutes prior didn’t dampen the mood. There was concern about underfoot conditions even before the rain so the shower only made matters all the more tense. 

But neither that nor the gravity of the day could stop Jamari. Nothing could.