Juliette stuns rivals to bag Morvi Trophy

This picture has been used for representation purpose only

The two hot market fancies of the Morvi Trophy--Sultan Suleiman and Alexi--grabbed all the eyeballs. And worse, they also grabbed almost all the betting money in the feature race. But when the race came to a boil, both were stunned by a powerful gallop unleashed by a long shot--Juliette.

Juliette, trained by Karthik Ganapathy, was ridden by french rider Colm O'Donoghue. The Musketier - Gimmesumsugar three-year-old filly was freely available at 9-to-1 in the bookmakers' ring.

Alexi (Trevor up) attempted a start-to-finish gamble after being backed dramatically to send his odds from 9/4 to 7/4. At the two furlong marker Alexi successfully shook off Sultan Suleiman (Sandesh up) who was stalking him all along. Thereafter, the Pesi Shroff ward shaped like a runaway winner until, all too suddenly, his strides shortened approaching the final furlong marker.

Colm O'Donoghue, who had got Juliette in top gear by then, sensed his opportunity and swooped onto the leader, with Sultan Suleiman going after him, but unable to match strides. At the wire Juliette spared a length-and-a-quarter to Sultan Suleiman who in turn finished a neck ahead of Alexi.

Doubles galore

Trainer Pesi Shroff combined with foreigner Leigh Roche to score a double on the first card at the Mahalaxmi racecourse this season. He led in Nekhbet and Mirabilis.

Trainer Narendra lagad matched Shroff's success with En Sabah Nur (Sandesh up) & Godsword (Dashrath Singh). Sandesh, who rode El Sabah Noor for Lagad, also completed a double astride Tasavvur, trained by Adhirajsingh Jodha.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates