King's Ransom wins Betway Pune Derby in a thriller

Representative image

Racing at the wrong end of the Derby field until the final three furlongs of the 2000m trip, King's Ransom produced an astounding gallop in the hands of jockey PS Chouhan to win the Betwary Pune Derby (Gr 1), the highlight of the Pune monsoon season. The Usha stud-bred three-year-old filly, by Multidimensional out of China Creek, is owned by Mr & Mrs Vijay Shirke, KN & ZK Dhunjibhoy, Keki D Mehta and Dara K Mehta. King's Ransom was trained by Pesi Shroff.

Trainer Pesi Shroff, in a post-race interview, made clear he was not overly worried about King's Ransom sticking to the rails at the wrong end for a long time. "Because coming into the homestretch, very soon PS (Chouhan) did a wonderful job, settling her and getting her into the rhythm." The winning filly then courageously swooped on to Dangerous, and after a brief but fierce duel, overpowered her rival to score a half-a-length victory, which was narrow but decisive.

Also read: Horse racing news: Emperor Roderic wins S A Poonawalla Million

"She (King's Ransom) settled nicely," winning jockey PS Chouhan said after the race, "and when pace slowed down a bit midway, she was very calm. I knew she was now only waiting for her chance, and she proved me right."

Besides winning the Derby, the trainer-jockey combination of Shroff-Chouhan won two more races with Claudius (Jimmy Umrigar Trophy) and Enigma (Noshir & Dolly Dhunjibhoy Sprint Million). The last-named, Enigma, shattered the existing course record by clocking a blazing 1m:6.509s for the six-furlong trip.