Thrilling finishes marked the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million Day. The Multi-Million race as expected turned out to be a hard-fought battle. Mr. Haresh Mehta’s Versaki (Verglas – Ghassak) showed tremendous courage and maturity warding off ever-mounting threats from numerous challengers. Hitting the front soon on start, jockey Rajendra had them all running at a brisk initial pace. Sheikha matched Versaki early on but when the heat was turned on, the filly faded out meekly. Mighty Crusader hung on until the final furlong before throwing in the towel. Versaki, though being hard ridden from the start, looked to be heading for a comfortable victory. However, the last furlong saw a pitched battle and Versaki stood up well to the fierce challenge. Jacqueline was the first to pose serious questions to Versaki’s supremacy. The filly ridden by McCullagh flew in the final furlong and was closing in rapidly on Versaki. Versaki, under severe pressure, began to drift out. McCullagh impulsively switched Jacqueline inwards and with the winning post fast approaching, could only reduce the margin. Jacqueline ran a good race and went down fighting. Versaki was in charge with Rajendra requiring all his skills to get the colt to go on. Versaki too was in mood to relent and was in a hurry to get past the post. As we looked on at the battery of horses in full flight spread across the homestretch, one filly on the outer rails was devouring ground at tremendous speed. It was Gypsy Magic who just seconds before was a tailed off bad last, that was ripping through to have her say at the finish. Versaki, Jacqueline and now Gypsy Magic were engaged in a sizzling battle. Versaki held on in a fitting finish to a great race, Gypsy Magic was an awesome runner-up. Jacqueline was a fighting third and Mighty Crusader a gritty fourth. Gypsy Magic was the one to catch the eye. The Padmanabhan-trained filly owned by the Poonawallas finished on strongly to nearly pull off an incredible victory. The filly had a lethargic start and took her time to raise a gallop. She tailed the big field by quite a distance and one would be forgiven, if one thought her to be completely out of contention. Trainer Padmanabhan, Paddu to those who know him closely, said to Indiarace, “Gypsy Queen is a temperamental filly and she has gone wide on occasions in the past. She is still a little immature filly but possesses a lot of potential, which she revealed in the final stages of the race. She took a while to start galloping and that made the task even more difficult, more so considering the quality of the contenders in such a competitive race. However, when she stared galloping fluently, I was confident that she would wipe off the deficit and make a race of it. By going wide, she lost whatever little chance she had, but I am happy that despite all these hurdles she gave the winner a run for the money. I take her back to Bangalore now knowing that she has a great potential and will work on her and realize her full potential.” When I asked him, what jockey Martin felt, Paddu curtly replied, “He felt that he would have won the race had the filly not drifted as wide as she eventually did.” Mr. Zavarey Poonawalla while presenting the winner’s Trophy to Mr. Haresh Mehta said, “The festivities and celebrations were deliberately toned down this year due to the tragic occurrences of 26/11 in Mumbai. Business will go on as usual but the thoughts of the Poonawalla group were with those affected by the tragedy.” When asked about the ‘oh-so-close’ run of his own filly Gypsy Magic, Zavarey said, “We would prefer giving than receiving. It gives me as much pleasure to hand the Trophy to Mr Mehta.” To drive home the point, he said, “I would like to point out that we did not enter our owned horses for the race for the first five years from its inception.” Mrs. Behroze Poonawalla handed the winner’s Trophy, while Mr and Mrs Yohan Poonawalla felicitated the winning camp. “It’s a great win and I am very happy with Versaki’s performance. I must add that Versaki had to race in the front and that was not exactly according to the pre-race plans. He adapted to the race very well and put up a courageous show,” said trainer Cooji Katrak without concealing his glee. “He appears to me as a good middle-distance runner and his fighting qualities – you just saw it a while back.” Mr James McEvan, Director of Jana International Transport and advisor to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, was the guest of honour of the Poonawalla. He consented to give away the Trophy for the Astonish Million. He said that he was treated to some exceptionally close finishes and had enjoyed the day thoroughly. The biggest draw after the PBMM was the customary presentation of the Maruti car to contest of skill winners. There were only three correct entries and the lucky draw favoured Major Lamba who drove away with a Maruti Swift the bumper prize sponsored by the Poonawalla Group. A caterer from the suburbs, Mr Gulekar won the Maruti 800 while Mr Kunal Shah won the third prize of a motor bike.