Winter Season 2002-2003 
Mumbai RACE REVIEWS

2nd Feb
2003

Noble Eagle pulls off a fast one
Indian breeding has come of age but the perceptions of those training the horses have not undergone a sea change. The fixed mindset of trainers in Mumbai have often resulted in horses which are out and out bred to stay, being campaigned over sprints, wasting many a talent in the process. Read on...

17th
January
2003

Twin Star upsets in Indian Oaks
The Gr 1 Indian Oaks has this habit of springing surprises with amazing regularity. Upsets are par for this race and the 2003 running of the Oaks was no exception. Shamaal went into the race as a firm favourite but she came a cropper soon after the start, stumbling and dislodging her jockey Srinath in the process. Read on...

16th
January
2003

Palazzio swamps opposition
Visiting Irish jockey Nail McCullagh must be laughing his way to the winning post by the ridiculous ease with which he is outsmarting his Indian colleagues by tactical brilliance.  Read on...

12th
January
2003

Palazzio swamps opposition
Captain Jamshed Appoo owned Palazzio decimated the opposition in the 1400 metres HSBC Salver in tremendous fashion, on Sunday. Read on...

9th
January
2003

Zurbaran bounces back into Derby contention
Padmanabhan trained Zurbaran bounced back into Indian Derby contention, with a tremendous performance in the Gr 2 2000 metres Dawn Ramniwas Ramnarain Ruia Gold Cup in what was termed as a dress rehearsal for the Blue Riband of the season. Read on...

8th
January
2003

Star Strider impressive but has a long way to go
Star Strider from trainer Ganapathy’s yard has always been kept in high esteem by the stable. Half-brother to last year’s Indian Derby winner Starsky, Star Strider is a late foal and as such, the connections were wise not to push him and have given sufficient time for him to be ready for the ultimate plum of Indian racing i.e. the Indian Derby. Read on...

25th
December
2002

Heritage Million for Secret Romeo
The first-ever juvenile million held for two-year olds, the Gr 3 Heritage Estates Juvenile Million, went the way of Secret Romeo who had the honor of winning the first race of the season, meant for debutants. The inaugural million, held on Christmas Day, was keenly fought out, with Dr Ramaswamy owned Secret Romeo who was a shade less fancied than owner mate Top Executive, make a profitable start to finish. Read on...

22nd
December
2002

Aldeburgh, it is, in a thriller
Visiting Irish jockey Nail McCullagh timed his challenge on Aldeburgh to a nicety to enable the Nanoli Stud bred to win the Gr 1 McDowell Indian 2000 Guineas in an exciting finish on Sunday. Superior Force threatened to down Aldeburgh but lacked that sprinting speed and ended up a close second.  Read on...

17th
December
2002

Indian Gold wins in splendid fashion
Hoshidar Daji’s Indian Gold produced a stunning run when everything appeared lost and won the Maharaja Sir Pratapsingh Gaekwad Trophy, the feature event of Tuesday’s races, in splendid fashion. The son of Tecorno, Indian Gold thus readily justified the strong support he enjoyed in the betting ring, improving on his noteworthy fourth behind the dead-heated duo of Superior Force and Grand Passion. Read on...

15th
December
2002

Free Radical eclipses the opposition
Horses make jockeys but they can make or unmake a champion. Irish champion John Murtagh is rated one of the best in the business and he gave ample reasons why he is so when guiding Free Radical to a tactical win in the Kingfisher Indian 1000 Guineas, the first classic of the season on Sunday.
Read on...

12th
December
2002

Senor Pele shows amazing progress
Dhariwal trained Senor Pele showed an amazing improvement when easily accounting for the opposition in the Balam Trophy, the highlight of Thursday’s races. The son of Tejano, Senor Pele was always highly rated by his jockey Pesi Shroff but fallen short of expectations plagued by one problem or the other.
Read on...

8th
December
2002

Thrilling finish highlights day’s feature
JIn one of the most exciting finishes seen in recent times, Rehanullah Khan trained Ice Touch won a thriller in a four-horse photo-finish to lift the Triple Seven Entertainment Gold Trophy, a race for horses rated 36 to 64, which highlighted the nine-event programme gone through on Sunday.
Read on...

5th
December
2002

Soviet Lake obliges at last
Jaggy Dhariwal’s Soviet Lake finally found her bearings, with an emphatic win in the Cascapedia Plate, a race for horses rated 54 to 82, the highest rated event of Thursday’s races. After six outings where the five-year old mare had missed the board on only one occasion, Soviet Lake made amends over a scurry, winning with ease from Speed of Light.
Read on...

1st
December
2002

Splendid show by Zurbaran
Sadakshara Padmanabhan’s Zurbaran continued his amazing improvement, with an impressive performance in the Gr 2 A C Ardeshir Trophy. The got-abroad colt beat a quality opposition and in the process became the only second three-year old to do so in the history of this race.

Read on...

28th
 November
2002

Shamaal wins her first hurdle
One of the prime contenders for the Indian 1000 Guineas, Shamaal won her lead up race quite capably despite running after a gap of over nine months on Thursday. The daughter of Razeen cruised into the lead but had to be fully driven out to contain the challenge of Seventh Star who had the Pune fitness to back her.
Read on...

24th
 November
2002

Shock defeat for Classical Act
Kingfisher Bangalore Derby winner and the talk horse of the year, Classical Act suffered a shock defeat at the hands of well-performed Rosmini in his lead up race to the Indian Classics on Sunday.

Read on...

21st
 November
2002

Punters get a knockout punch
The knockout punch delivered by rank outsider Star of Attention in the day’s feature event summed up the plight of the race goers on Thursday. With most of the favourites playing truant, punters got the wrong end of the stick.
Read on...

17th
 November
2002

Aqualung should run well in Guineas
Hanut Singh trained Aqualung has been on the upgrade. The daughter of Don’t Forget Me, Aqualung had been a consistent performer over a mile long trip at Pune and despite her impressive record, she was not considered good enough to be in the finishing line of the 1400 metres Deepali Plate which had many 1000 Guineas aspirants in the fray.
Read on...