Freely available at 3 to 1, Germanicus posted a thrilling victory in the grade 3, S A Poonawalla Multi-Million from the fast-finishing Silken Eyes to whom he spared a long neck at the wire. Germanicus was ridden by A Sandesh and trained by Vishal Gaikwad
Pune: Freely available at 3 to 1, Germanicus posted a thrilling victory in the grade 3, S A Poonawalla Multi-Million from the fast-finishing Silken Eyes to whom he spared a long neck at the wire. Germanicus was ridden by A Sandesh and trained by Vishal Gaikwad. The three-year-old son of Whatsthescript out of Phenomenale won a glittering trophy and a purse of Rs 12 lakh for owners Mr & Mrs Vijay Shirke, KN Dhunjibhoy and Farouq Rattonsey.
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Arak, carrying the same silks as Germanicus, set a moderate pace for her five rivals before throwing in the towel; and an alert A Sandesh was quick to bid for the lead on turning for home. Sandesh gave a masterly riding display when he vigorously pushed Germanicus to establish what in the end turned out to be the winning lead. By contrast, Neeraj Rawal astride the Cooji Katrak-trained Silken Eyes took his time to put the filly into the top gear before challenging the leader, and though she finally managed to go dangerously close to the winner, it was clear Sandesh and Germanicus were not going to be collared.
Quick double for Gaikwad
In the very next race, the upper division of the Enaksi Plate, trainer Vishal Gaikwad sent out another winner in the same silks in Book Thief. This three-year-old, who had repeatedly disappointed and was yet to win her maiden race in four earlier starts, was spiritedly backed against first favourite Arakawah and second-in-demand Ladislaus, and the running of the race proved that the smart money was spot on. Jockey Joy Chinoy took the filly on a start to finish mission, and was neither headed nor challenged by anyone until he passed the wire a length ahead of Ladislaus (Trevor up) who spared another length to Arakawah (Kavraj up). The trainer who won the feature event thus stole the day's honours with a back-to-back double.
Car for Zamir Shaikh
There were 31 race-goers who had correctly nominated the first four finishers in the S A Poonawalla Multi-Million, so the prize of car was decided by a lucky draw among them. The goddess of luck smiled on Zamir Shaikh, a local guy who has been racing for nearly three decades, but had never been so lucky earlier. He drove away with the Hyundai Eon car put up as first prize by sponsor Poonawalla family.