Doubles galore at Pune racecourse

This picture has been used for representational purpose

As many as five professionals--three horse trainers and two jockeys--celebrated their Christmas in style at the Pune racecourse by scoring a double each. The three schoolers were veteran Narendra Lagad, the hard-working Shiraz Sunderji and young Karthik Ganapathy; while the two jockeys who matched their feat were A Sandesh, the usual suspect, and an humble T S Jodha who hasn't hit headlines in years, or perhaps decades, on the western India racing circuit.

The last-named rode a back to back double which included the day's supporting event, the Conrad Pereira Trophy, named after the man who had put in long years of distinguished service, officiating as judge for the races. T S Jodha drove the Himmat Singh-trained Sandalphon to an effortless victory, replicating the same feat he had accomplished with the same horse on the opening day of the season a month ago.

In the earlier race, Jodha had managed a stunning winning debut for the year old filly Ladida, trained by Karthik Ganapathy, to win the Alma Mater Plate. Trainer Ganapathy, who sent out Ladida, went on to win the Conrad Hotels Pune Trophy with another first-timer, a two-year-old colt named Aries who was given an inspiring ride by Bhavani Singh.

Jockey A Sandesh partnered with trainer Sunderji to score twice on the Friday card: winning the class IV, Cardinal Plate with Powerful Lady who put up a gutsy fight with favourite Costa Rica (Y S Srinath up) to win a neck verdict; and quickly following it up with the piping hot on-money, public fancy Kildare to bag the Beautiful Stranger Plate.

Jockey YS Srinath, however, later avenged that narrow loss at the hands of Sandesh by winning the feature event of the day, the Christmas Trophy, for trainer Imtiaz Sait's Iron Age, toying with Sandesh and his mount Intense Stylist, and running away with the race.

Trainer Narendra Lagad registered his brace by winning both divisions of the Murioi Plate, which were reserved for the whipless apprentice riders: the lower division with Northern Singer (P S Kaviraj up), and the upper division with Abraxas (Aniket Karande up).