Jockey Sandesh Akhade excelled in the saddle at the Mahalaxmi racetrack yesterday when he rode five straight winners on a six-race Sunday card. In a bid to equal the Indian record of six wins in a day, held by none other than the legendary Aslam Kader on the same Mahalaxmi track 25 years ago, Sandesh desperately tried to win from his last and sixth mount on the card, Sir Ramon, but the horse petered out after looking promising until the final turn.

Matheran boy
Hailing from Matheran, a hill station in Maharashtra, Sandesh has been following into the footsteps of his predecessor Vasant Shinde, who was the first jockey from Matheran to get into the big league on the national circuit.