31 December,2009 07:26 AM IST | | Prakash Gosavi
Names of winners can sometimes turn out to be misnomers. Sunday was one such day when a 'warrior' did not even have to fight to win, a 'maseeha' killed most jackpot punters' dreams, and a 'saint' was involved in a sort of controversy.
Star Warrior confirmed that he is the most forward two-year-old in training at Mahalaxmi. The Razeen-Starry Scene colt won the day's feature, Rohan Lifescapes Million. Star Warrior hit the front from the word go, and accelerated so brilliantly that though jockey M Fenton eased him in the last part, he clocked 58.61 seconds for the five-furlong trip which was barely half a second shy of the course record.
Despite such blazing speed, his trainer Cooji Katrak does not believe Star Warrior is a sprinter. "I don't think he is a sprinter," Katrak told MiD DAY after the race, "He would easily get the mile." On asked if Star Warrior would be the prime contender from his yard for the forthcoming grade 1, Poonawalla Breeders' Multimillion (Feb 28, 2010), Katrak replied a cryptic 'Yes', followed by, "as of now". "Some of my other good juveniles will run shortly," he added.
In the only graded race on the Sunday card, the Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia Trophy (gr 3), the 20 to 1 shot Maseeha floored experts and amateurs alike when jockey Dasrath Singh gave an inspired ride to the Zadmal Singh ward to humble the trio of Icebreaker, Phenomenale and Dancing Dynamite. This young jockey appears to have taken his riding to a new level this season, and looks set for bigger and better times ahead if he gets decent mounts.
Haresh Mehta, chief of Rohan Lifescapes who had sponsored the day's feature, himself led in three winners on the card. Two of them Fire Vault and Starfall were trained by Mansoor Shah, while the third, Lone Monarch, was saddles by Katrak. All three were ridden by Suraj Narredu who had the easiest of rides astride the last-named, thanks to a last-moment withdrawal of favourite Saint Vincent by the club's chief veterinary officer, a decision that was later protested against by the owners of Saint Vincent in an audience with the stewards.
The highlight of the week was, however, Imtiaz Sait's momentous achievement of leading in his 1,000th winner (Belligerent) at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Thursday. The veteran trainer has saddled a total of 1,665 winners so far, and was named champion trainer 11 times at Mumbai and 7 times at Pune.
