Season start full of surprises
Dark weather scenarios did not come to pass, thus the start of the 2015 season at Służewiec saw a multitude of spectators. As in a Hitchcock movie, it started with an earthquake, namely with a win of Trawers, second last in pre-race forecasts. The fate of favourites was also difficult in most of the other races. The only horse returning “with the shield” was the great racing Arab Westim, but even this horse had to work very hard to remain undefeated.
Anna Gil, an apprentice, rode Małgorzata Łojek-trained Trawers, as the lightest jockey (45 kgs), with great sense of tempo. Even its tail could not be sniffed along the home stretch by the favoured horses, Szamet (58 kgs) and Commander Hall (62 kgs) ridden by jockey masters, Szczepan Mazur and Václav Janáček. Indeed, the huge weight deficit was an important advantage of the unexpected winner, but this was a fact well known before the race. And still few believed that the petite amazon will be able to make use of this advantage. It is enough to say that only one out of fourteen participants of the Media League selected Trawers as the fourth place holder.
The first day saw triumphs of two more amazons, the experienced Cornelia Fraist (she easily won riding a gelding, Tollee Dust) and Karolina Kamińska who recorded her 10th career win on Wierzbin, and already being a second-degree apprentice (with a weight allowance of 3 kgs) she will be able to ride with a whip. We would like to offer our sincere congratulations on this advancement in the jockey hierarchy.
The main race of the first day, the Tomasz Dul Memorial (25th February was the 10th anniversary of death of this extraordinary jockey called “The Track King”) was won, in good style, by Irish-bred Bush Brother, trained by Andrzej Walicki and ridden by Janáček. He defeated the German Two To Tango and Novitor which unexpectedly became the best of Polish participants of the race, although he dropped to the last place after a commotion before the turn. It seems that the favoured Pretor also lost its chances to shine in the race at the same time. It was thrown out of sync and then closed at the side, but when open space appeared before it, it started slowing down and eventually finished last. On the other hand, Torsey was unable to fight the energetic, far-stretched leader – Bush Brother and Two To Tango chasing it home, eventually losing third place to Novitor in the final push towards the finish line. The only competing mare, Szarotka, also did not stand up to the forceful race.
The promising 3-year old horses also met in the last, 9th race of the first day. The most favored Mushrae did not withstand the pace dictated to it by Janáček, and during the last 200 m it was first overtaken by Ceylon noting a great finish under Siergiej Wasiutow, and next by Kolekcjoner flying home on the proverbial wings under Piotr Krowicki. Both stallions of the trainer Wojciech Olkowski crossed the finish line in a dead heat. Mushrae clearly held the third place, and King Jape galloped on to take the fourth place.
The win of Tankredi, bred and trained by Elwira Porębna near Wrocław, owned by Pejon-E. Porębna, is noteworthy. This mare was ridden by a Czech jockey candidate Michal Mach, noting his debut at Służewiec. After a fight, she defeated Meadow Kisses and Jusain Bolt, which failed yet again.
The hot favourite Westim, mentioned at the beginning, returning to racing after a year-long break caused by a grave injury, unexpectedly had to put an effort in order to win the Skowronek Stakes (I category) ahead of the slightly underestimated Wasilew.
Two other strongly fancied horses wasn’t able to achieve victories. They lost to the second most likely win-candidates (in forecasts). Strateg found its conqueror in Electro Pop, and Hurricane Seven failed to win against Newman.
The first two-day racing meeting is taking place at Służewiec on the 25th-26th April. It is going to feature i.e. undefeated horses Va Bank (Strzegom Prize), and Arash (Comet Prize).
