Forest Flame (Leitir Mor – Memory Bay, Poonawalla Stud) kept her date with victory and won the Gool & Soli Poonawalla Indian 1000 Guineas (Gr1) providing her trainer SS Attaollahi his first success in the Indian Classic. 

Forest Flame though, didn't exactly overwhelm the opposition as Miss Muffet put in a grim fight to stretch the hot favourite all the way through the homestretch. Miss Muffet was right up with the pace as the Hyderabad Challenger Smashing Blue led the field early with Miss Muffet in chase. Forest Flame settled a couple of lengths further behind with One Wish and Costa Rica slightly ahead of her. Jockey Trevor deftly pulled Forest Flame out anticipating the crowding in front and had the turf clear in front as they straightened for home. The same was not the case with both One Wish and Alluring Silver. Both received a check early in the straight. 

Forest Flame opened throttle and tried to surge ahead but countered a strong challenge from Miss Muffet, who fought hard and stuck by Forest Flame until the final couple of strides. Forest Flame quelled this challenger alright, however, the way Alluring Silver caught up with the fighting due leaves enough room to ponder how much closer she would have gotten to Forest Flame or if she would have even got past had Alluring Silver not have to break her rhythm and skirt around horses thereby losing crucial momentum, time and ground. Alluring Silver was clearly the fastest to finish and she covered considerable ground to end on the haunches of Miss Muffet, who was only ¾ L behind Forest Flame. Alluring Silver gave an impression that she would relish the longer trip going by the manner at which she finished full of running, showing a fiery turn of foot. 

The first Classic however, was marred by the fall of Noble Queen, sending jockey Yash Narredu to the hospital with a broken collar bone. The lad will be out of action for a couple of months now, while Noble Queen had to be put down on humanitarian grounds.
It is a matter of growing concern that injury to horses and jockeys is seen happening on the Pune track a lot more frequently in the current season. Even allowing for the fact that casualties are a part of most sports and it is a given that some serious incidents do occur from time to time in every, or at least most of the fiercely competitive sports. However, when such accidents rise and with such regularity then it calls for a closer scrutiny. Already there are reports of a large number of horses that have been injured seriously, some in the eyes, some have suffered more grievous injuries and a few even had to be euthanized. This is serious and the Club authorities have to address this issue on a war footing. Several complaints have also been lodged by the professionals, yet the mishaps are occurring with alarming regularity. 

Murmurs have been floating around for a while now that people with technical expertise on maintenance of tracks are not there anymore on the rolls of the club. Those with quite a few years of experience, who had a good grasp of the basics of track maintenance, have been asked to leave without any suitable replacements in place. Moreover, the Pune track is primarily a monsoon track and may not be ideally conducive for racing in the winter months without necessary upkeep. The Club, therefore, should have ensured that suitable replacements were ready well before doing away with those with appropriate domain expertise, as track maintenance requires a certain degree of knowledge and experience. A stop-gap ‘stand-in’ would only further endanger the well-being of both jockeys and the thoroughbreds. The least the Club ought to do is to ensure safe racing and work tracks and fulfil its basic obligation to the owners, professionals and Stud farms alike. 

Back to the racing action on the day, the late Withdrawal of Gallantry in the Rahimtoola Chinoy Trophy reduced the field to just four runners with two of them, namely Frivolous and Odessa merely filling in the numbers on all practical counts. Victorious Sermon (Whatsthescript – Crystal, Nanoli Stud) from the stables of Vishal Gaikwad made it an easy, free-flowing run to victory without encountering any challenge from Mount Moriah. The five-year-old gelding took off at a steady pace for the mile-long race and kept comfortably ahead of Mount Moriah, with the other two going about the motions. Jockey Zervan toyed with Mount Moriah in the homestretch and gradually drew away in the final furlong to score an impressive victory. Mount Moriah could not even pace up with Victorious Sermon and ended a poor second by close to six lengths.  

Vishal Gaikwad saddled his second winner - Nothing to Worry (Phoenix Towers – Dixie Evans, Manjri Stud) who picked up the Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy (VI Bart) Trophy. Nothing to Worry was another one who lived up to his name and won without having to actually fire on all cylinders. 
Jockey Zervan bided his time and chased the front running trio comprising Multiencrypted, Fortune Cookie and Red Merlot until the turn and soon made his move from the wider outside. He pounced upon the fighting duo of Multiencrypted and Red Merlot with about 300m to go and then unleashed just enough speed to cruise past them and post a pleasing debut victory. Jockey Zervan yet again got Nothing to Worry to accelerate fluently and achieve the goal without any fuss. To Multiencrypted’s credit, the debutante colt mustered well all through and ended a good second just over a length behind Nothing To Worry.  

Trainer Pesi Shroff turned in a star performance on the day leading-on three winners and all three of them notched up their maiden wins, one on debut. 
Seasons Greetings (Mukhadram – Auntie Kathryn, Usha Stud) came as an apt greeting first up into the New Year and gave her connections and supporters a lot to cheer about. The Shroff trained filly looked the part as she took off from the gates and sailed into the lead which she kept all the way. Beejay chased the winner until they turned for home and then tried hard to get closer, but jockey PS Chouhan, relying on going hands and heels. Had helped work the filly gallop fluently right through and stretch away to post her maiden win without any anxious moments. Seasons Greetings never looked under pressure and she won handsomely by a comfortable 3 ¼ lengths. Beejay ran on to take the runner up slit well ahead of Posse.  

Roaring Tiger (Kitten’s Joy – Jazzy Jordan, Manjri Stud) was turning up for the second time on the race track and he bettered his debut third to land the spoils while bagging the Uttam Singh Trophy. Moriseiki rolled onto the front working up a clear lead with Roaring Tiger settling three or four lengths behind in second. With rest another few lengths behind in a line. 

Moriseiki kicked on to maintain a healthy lead, while Fire N Ice slipped through the rails past Roaring Tiger at 800m to move to second. Moriseiki came into the straight with a handy lead but Fire N Ice soon tackled the long-time leader. Roaring Tiger, with YS Srinath up, got going with two furlongs to go but started to shift out, drifting closer to the outer rails. While Moriseiki fell back slightly, Fire N Ice took the battle right up to the post. However, Roaring Tiger, despite shifting out as much as he did, surged ahead past the grandstands to carve out a narrow half-length victory. Had it not been for the drift outward, Roaring Tiger would have won with a better margin. Fire N Ice fought gamely and ended a good second, comfortably ahead of Moriseiki and Historian. 

Pesi secured his third winner for the day through debutante Shamshir Sword (Phoenix Tower – First At Summer, Manjri Stud) beating hot favourite Birkin Blower with a late flourish. Birkin Blower was on a start-to-finish mission and nearly pulled it off. Shamshir Sword made his task even more difficult as he was a bit tardy at the start and was tailing the front bunch by more than three lengths until the final turn. 

Birkin Blower shaped well on entering the straight and looked on course, as those closest behind him were under the pump. Samshir Sword started to warm up and soon produced a scorching run to gain rapidly on Birkin Blower. Jockey PS Chouhan timed his run to perfection as he collared Birkin Blower a stride from the winning post to snatch a thrilling victory.  Birkin Blower was overwhelmed close home and will live to fight another day. Officer In Command did well to finish in the money. 
Dallas Todywalla trained Hidden Gold (Leitir Mor – Cocinella, Ponawalla Stud) established his superiority over Storm Breaker for the second time on the trot, scoring a much more assured victory this time. Jockey Trevor made a quick early move after following Impala into the straight. Hidden Gold worked up a fiery pace and soon stole a march on the rest. Storm Breaker moved into second and chased Hidden Gold all the way home, without making much impact on the winner. Memorable Memories ended a little over a length behind Storm Breaker.  

After a decent showing in the FD Wadia (Gr3) where she ran fourth to the likes of Leopard Rock in a group race, Hioctane flopped badly, failing to raise a quality gallop and ending a disappointing fourth. Shazaan Shah trained Rambler (Leitir Mor – Stravella, Poonawalla Stud) showed good improvement and sealed the issue early in the homestretch. Jockey Zeeshan grabbed his chance the moment he got it and surged past early leaders Rospomare and Spice as they took the final turn. Grand Sinatra got an opening but did not have enough fire power to match Rambler’s acceleration. It was Rambler all the way who sped away from the rest and looked the winner half way down the homestretch! Both Grand Sinatra and Hioctane were struggling. Stick to the Plan slipped in through the rails and ended second more than three lengths behind Rambler. Grand Sinatra finished third while Hioctane ended half-length further behind.     

Summer Night (Night of Thunder – Ghar Shoop, Manjri Stud) made light of the heavy 62-kilo he was carrying to bring up his maiden victory on his second career start. Mythical Power hit the front early, with Caesar close behind, while jockey A Sandesh guided Summer Night steadily to be on the tail of the front runners. Caesar looked in distress and slowly veered out of contention well before the turn. Summer Night switched to galloping mode soon on turning for home and within strides left Mystical Power far behind. He looked the winner approaching the distance post and he strode out fluently to win without being extended. Trinket ended a fair second, while Gandalf improved well in the final furlong to finish in the money. 

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff picked up three winners, while trainer Vishal Gaikwad & jockeys Trevor, PS Chauhan and S Zervan scored a double each.