PAST THE POST - A REVIEW OF THE S.A.POONAWALLA MULTI MILLION (GR 3) - By Cyrus Naterwalla
Posted on - 20 Sep 2018
PAST THE POST – A REVIEW OF THE S.A.POONAWALLA MULTI MILLION (GR 3)
- By Cyrus Naterwalla
The S.A. Poonawalla Multi Million is one of the most prestigious 3 year old races of the Pune season and is often a pointer to the Pune Derby. Several of the top 3 year olds have claimed this race en route to better things and this year’s renewal promises to be the same. A small but select field of 7 runners lined up to face the starter and the race wore quite a competitive look to it. The home challenge was spear headed by the improving Excellent (Excellent Art x Skyelady) who had stylishly won the F.D. Wadia Trophy over 1400M on his reappearance in spite of not looking fully wound up finishing about 3 lengths ahead of Adjudicate (Multidimensional x Alvarita) that day conceding half a kilo. Considering that he was now conceding 3 ½ kilos to the filly they appeared to be quite close on paper. Pioneer (Phoenix Tower x Riyasat), an owner mate and a stable companion of Adjudicate was one of the leading 3 year olds of the Mumbai season and had redeemed his reputation after a couple of poor runs when scoring in Class III also over 1400M. From Bangalore came New Moon (Dean’s Kitten x Atmosphere) who was the highest rated runner in the field and came to Pune fresh from back to back wins at his home centre. Vishal Gaikwad saddled the highly regarded Van Dyke (Kingda Ka x Laserre) who had contested the Bangalore Summer Classics, finishing 4th in the Colts Trial and 3rd in the Bangalore Derby behind Sir Cecil and Star Superior. Rounding out the field were Truly Epic (Mull of Kintyre x Sun Control) who had finished 5th behind Excellent in the F.D. Wadia and the outsider of the field, the maiden Navigator (China Visit x Olivia Valere) who was receiving weight all around. Pioneer and Excellent both stood out in the pre parade ring, looking well muscled and ready to go while Adjudicate also looked fit and well but Van Dyke did not particularly catch the eye in the preliminaries. In spite of this there was strong support for the Vishal Gaikwad ward who was sent off the eventual favourite with Excellent easy to back on the course and drifting out to 7/2 from an initial 2/1. The Bangalore challenger New Moon was well supported at 9/2 while both Pioneer and Adjudicate were easy to back at 7s.
The field broke to a lovely even dispatch from the mile barrier with Excellent jumping out smartly and leading for a few strides before being passed by Van Dyke who darted ahead to take charge with Adjudicate settling into 3rd spot on the fence and being tracked on the outside by Navigator. Racing 5th on the fence was New Moon with Truly Epic 2nd last on the outside and Pioneer held up in the rear by P.S. Chouhan. Van Dyke settled down to lead them at a good clip from Navigator moving up into 2nd with Excellent settled back in 3rd and Truly Epic making slight progress on the outside to go into 4th. Adjudicate dropped back slightly into 5th spot being tracked by owner mate Pioneer improving on the outside with New Moon now a close last. Van Dyke continued to hold the advantage as they approached the bend with Excellent moving up strongly to race on his haunches in 2nd, Navigator beginning to lose pace and drop away, Pioneer making a quick forward move on the outside but about 4 horses wide and Adjudicate also improving along the inside. Van Dyke fizzled out tamely upon straightening up and it was Excellent who took charge with a good turn of foot to scoot 2 lengths clear of Truly Epic trying to mount a challenge on the outside with Adjudicate challenging between the pair and Pioneer beginning to gallop widest of all on the stands side. Excellent was ridden out in the final furlong as both Adjudicate and Pioneer tried to close but he stretched out well in the hands of Neeraj Rawal and kept on till the line to prevail by a length and a half. Adjudicate finished on to be a close 2nd, just holding off stable companion Pioneer who ended up a good 3rd. The Bangalore challenger New Moon came through the middle to try and mount a challenge but then flattened out close home to finish a faraway 4th. Truly Epic kept on to take the 5th spot while Van Dyke only managed to beat one home – the lowest rated Navigator who was outclassed. The timing was a smart 1.37.60 seconds which is a good timing for the Pune track.
With this win, Excellent has taken his career record to 3 wins from 4 starts and has won both the prestigious 3 year old races this term – a unique feat which has not been accomplished for a while and carried home the colours of the Sponsors of the race – the Poonawalla family much to their delight. He did appear to be tiring a bit in the closing stages which casts some doubts as to whether he will stay the additional 400M of the Pune Derby which undoubtedly will be his next port of call. Excellent Art progeny have been a little suspect for stamina and the dam Skyelady won 3 races, 2 of them over 7 furlongs and appeared to have plenty of speed. However, Excellent has been ridden prominently in both his runs this term and maybe if ridden a little more patiently over the longer trip, his class will see him through. Adjudicate showed some improvement from her run in the F.D. Wadia, finishing closer to Excellent and she looks likely to stay the 2000M trip so could possibly be a threat to him over the longer trip. Pioneer, who was conceding weight all around also ran well and seemed to get the trip and was not given the best of rides by P.S. Chouhan, travelling very wide from 800M out, and possibly sacrificing a little ground in the process. His dam Riyasat won the Indian Oaks so he has stamina in his pedigree and with a 2 kilo swing in the weights, he too will fancy his chances to gain revenge. Van Dyke was always likely to be suspect to the finishing kick of these milers but petered out very tamely and possibly was in need of this run. He is a confirmed stayer which his style of racing shows as well and he should give a much better account of himself in the Derby.
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