HINT OF A RAINBOW AS MUMBAI RACING ENDS
By Vivek Jain
The 21 day Mumbai Racing Season, will draw down its curtains coming Sunday. Kudos to the RWITC management for seeing through this testing phase after two years of truncated racing and in ensuring a revival of sorts.
The champion trainer title is done and dusted as Pesi Shroff is set to add yet another championship while the jockey’s honors is headed for a last day photo finish. Trevor, who started riding in Mumbai after a stint in Qatar, only from mid season, is scraping the heels of Chouhan, who has not been seen in the saddle for a few weeks.
The horse of the season ought to be Northern Lights, the got abroad Usha bred grey, who was the only horse to pick up four races, swiftly going from Class 3 to a win in the Group 3 A C Ardeshir. Only six others won three- Chamonix, Endeavour, Exclusive, Giant Star, Nothing to Worry and The Bawaji, emphasizing the competitiveness of Mumbai racing. The most impressive of these was Giant Star, adding a Group race in his hat trick while Exclusive scored an unbeaten three timer and is clearly a sprinter for future laurels.
Amongst the classic runners, Miracle swept to win both the Fillies’ classics, but blemished her record with the loss in the Indian Derby which won by a red hot Zuccarelli, but it was Juliette, the pint sized grey who won hearts by winning the Eclipse and the Chennai Invitation making amends for her controversial defeat at Mumbai.
But it is the juvenile crop where the focus is on, though no extraordinary talent was sighted. Amongst the colts,Imperial Power and Supernatural, both by Multidimensional stood tall, ranged by Ahead of My time and Emperor Roderic from the Poonawalla farms. Dexa by winning the PBMM has established his classic claims, and two others- the maiden son of Australia, Sadler’s Legacy and King’s Best have the potential to be classic hopefuls.
The pick of the three year old fillies were King’s Ransom, who won smashingly on debut but lost the Manjri Fillies- given a poor ride and also possibly not getting the trip so early in her career; Thunberg, who impressed in both her placed runs and is clearly a 1,000 Guineas prospect, and Snowfall, the got abroad Poonawalla bred filly, who is certainly destined for a big future.
What of the future of racing in Western India? Having weathered the storm, the Club is set to sail in calmer waters. There are still the lurking dark clouds, and when all seemed lost, there is a hint of a rainbow. The sport has been blessed by a magic wand but it will take more than just magic to turn it around.
