Geographique stuns rivals--bags feature event; trainer Sait records a treble

Jockey Neeraj Rawal drives the Imtiaz Sait-trained Geographique to an easy victory in the Group 3, Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia Trophy at the Mahalaxmi racetrack on Sunday. Pic/RWITC

Geographique, trained by Imtiaz Sait and ridden by Neeraj Rawal, carried the dark blue silks of Shyam Ruia's Equus Racing first past the post in the Gr 3, Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia Trophy, the feature event of the Sunday card at Mahalaxmi. Neeraj Rawal must get full credit for the victory as he stalked Sentinel, who was out to do the pacemaker's job for the stable's main fancy Juliette. Ironically, Juliette (CS Jodha up) herself chose to grace the rear end, keeping closer to her perceived main rival Zuccaro (P Trevor up).

The pace turned out rather moderate (more than 1m:13s for the first six of the nine-furlong trip), and Neeraj grabbed the opportunity with both hands to drive Geographique full steam ahead in the straight to speed away for a magnificent victory. Both Juliette and Zuccaro were so far back at the turn, there was no way they could have bridged the gap anyway. But the fact that they caved in under pressure made a severe dent in the reputation both had built up as champion horses on a winning spree.

This was the third success on the Sunday card for veteran trainer Imtiaz Sait sent who had already led in Dream Alliance (CS Jodha up) who scored a fluent victory in the PR Mehta Salver, a mile-and-a-half contest for Class II horses; and had immediately followed it up with a stylish win by Endurance in the Jayaramdas Patel Gold Trophy for Class III runners over the same trip. Jockey Neeraj Rawal, who partnered Endurance, thus ended the day with a double.

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Gracias silks to the fore

Jockey Yash Narredu gave a power-packed ride to Gunsmoke, trained by his father Malesh Narredu, in the supporting event of the card, the Gracias Saldanha Memorial Million for two-year-old maiden horses. Taking charge of the race midway in the homestretch, Yash did well to thwart a brief but spirited challenge posed by Diego Garcia (Akshay Kumar up), and skipped away for a decisive victory in the final yards of the seven-furlong trip. Interestingly, the Havana Gold - Belliflore colt carried the same silks made famous by the late Gracias Saldanha, one of the finest gentlemen to grace the turf, in whose memory the race was sponsored by his family.

Double for Trevor

In the first race on the card, the Jayant M Shah & Champak M Shah Gold Trophy for Class III, the followers of the piping-hot half-money favourite Chagall, trained by Pesi Shroff, skipped a heartbeat when the four-year-old colt lost about three lengths at the start, but jockey P Trevor brought him up with a sustained run in the homestretch to collar Bashir (A Sandesh up) virtually in the last stride.

Trevor also aced Sandesh in identical fashion in the Kheem Singh Salver for maiden three-year-old horses in Class IV when, astride the Faisal Abbas -trained Cinderella's Dream, he nosed out Afreen at the wire after Sandesh tried every trick in the book to hold on to her diminishing lead. Trevor thus matched Neeraj Rawal's feat by scoring a brace. The last race on the card, the Tasawwur Plate, was won by Divine Intuition trained by Aman Hussain and ridden by TS Jodha.