The Poonawalla Stud Farm bred horses made a clean sweep of the first four positions of the Gool S Poonawalla Million (Gr 3) with Dr MAM Ramaswamy owned Superior Quest showing a lot of courage and stubbornly holding on to win the prestigious race in a thrilling finish. Superior Quest (Diffident – Days of Glory) was trained by Karthik and superbly ridden by jockey A Imran Khan to win an attractive trophy and a purse of over Rs 7 lakh. Superior Quest shot into the lead soon after they settled down and the rest were all huddled closely behind in a tightly packed field.

Rain Forest, while trying to improve position from the rear, suddenly veered outward dislodging jockey Kishore Kadam in the process. Fortunately, Kadam escaped unhurt and was advised to be kept under the mandatory observation. Superior Quest entered the straight with the pack hounding him, snapping at his tail. Viva La Diva was the first to throw his challenge. She got alongside and matched strides with Superior Quest in a keenly fought battle. Serenity was beginning to accelerate to join the fight. Star Empire was right there, but just wouldn’t quicken, with the hapless Imran Chisty trying as hard as he could.

Keringdingan was looking for the right channel all the time and finally moved inwards to seek his pathway from close to the inner rails. Delphi was in the rear but could not reproduce the brilliance of her debut. Superior Quest, meanwhile, was busy keeping Viva La Diva and Serenity at bay. He was under pressure and this led him to drift out at the crucial juncture as they were approaching the winning post at breakneck speed. He however, kept the momentum going with jockey Imran Khan pulling every trick in his bag.

Viva La Diva fell short as Serenity and Keringdingan got her from either side. Superior Quest was rock solid in his finish and held on by a narrow margin, winning the race in quick time – 1:11.19. Serenity too ran a good race but just failed to muster the final surge in time. Keringdingan also put in a strong finish but he had already lost precious time looking for the right opening.

Delphi was outpaced, as was Star Empire. For the Sponsors, it was an unexpected delight to not only find that the first four places of the Group 3 race went to the horses bred at their farm, but also achieving the first instance of all the top four finishers in a group race having been sired by their famed Stallion - Diffident. “It is a record of sorts and a great result for the Poonawalla Stud Farm,” said Mr Vivek Jain, Chairman, RWITC.

“It was an open race with most of the horses standing a genuine chance to win. The margin of victory surely endorsed that the race lived up to the expectation of a thrilling finish.” Mr Jain then presented a memento to Mr Adar C Poonawalla representing the Poonawalla Group, on behalf of the Club. Ms Delna Poonawalla received the breeder’s Salver.