The Dr SC Jain Sprinters’ Championship (Gr2) lived up to expectations, culminating in a thrilling fight between the two prime contenders Enigma and Iron Age. While Iron Age essayed start-to-finish as he always does, Enigma came from behind and jockey PS Chouhan had to put in his bit of hard work to get past Iron Age close home.

Iron Age sailed into the lead soon on start with Joaquin for company. Enigma stuck by the rails with Gazino on her outside; Augustus Caesar raced at the rear end and never really looked the part.

Iron Age entered the homestretch working up a good pace and looked as self-assured as he had in the past. Joaquin was toiling to keep up with Iron Age, while Shroff trained Enigma (Phoenix Tower – Maisha, Chester Stud) had to skirt around this pair to get a clear run. Gazino and Augustus Caesar were well beaten by then. Iron Age was a couple of lengths ahead with about 300m to go when Enigma started to pick up. Joaquin toiled hard to stay in contention, but Enigma sailed past him with ease. Iron Age put up stiff resistance as Enigma started to draw closer. The pair fought out the final 150 meters, however, Enigma was easily traveling the better of the two. Enigma surged past Iron a couple of strides from the winning post to score by half a length. Iron Age finished a good second. Joaquin could have finished closer but he got sandwiched between the two stalwarts and Trevor could not ride out freely in the last few strides of the race.

For Chester Stud Farm, Enigma provided them their first ‘Graded’ race victory, a memorable landmark indeed. Enigma is from the Farm’s first crop of only five foals which is remarkable. Three of the five foals reached Class I the others being North Star and Arcadia, the latter also holds the track record for 1800 meters at Pune.

Imtiaz Sait trained Endeavour (Strong Suit – Starring, Manjri Stud) achieved a hattrick between Pune and Mumbai and this one was his first over 1200m, all his previous three victories were over the 1000m scurry. Jockey Kirtish Bhagat settled Endeavour in second, close behind Desert Fire. Majestic Warrior joined these two with Enid Blyton a couple of lengths behind.

Endeavour didn’t wait too long as he surged past Desert Fire at the turn and then accelerated fluently to build up a winning lead and bag the Bolton Trophy. He was well clear past the 400m mark and Enid Blyton and company were packed off far earlier than one expected. Endeavour won it effortlessly with a margin of over three lengths. Enid Blyton finished second, well ahead of Desert Fire.

Shazaan Shah’s Rambler (Leitir Mor – Stravella, Poonawalla Stud) scored another impressive victory to clinch the NM Irani Trophy in style. Multistarrer and Minx led them into the straight with Rambler being pushed to pick up. Just one crack did it and Rambler started devouring ground at a brisk pace. Within strides Rambler shot ahead of Multistarrer. Once in the lead, jockey PS Kavraj had little to do as Rambler galloped away out of reach from his rivals. Monarchy picked up late in the straight but was quick enough to peg back Multistarrer for the runner up berth.

Lord Vader (Be Safe – Copper Bracelet, Sans Craintes Stud) showed tremendous improvement over his previous two outings and produced an eye-catching run in the straight to shock the field by walloping his opponents by a huge margin of seven lengths. Hot favourite Rodrigo led them into the straight but could not quicken at all. Vikramaditya too, did not muster well enough and as these two were struggling, Lord Vader, in the hands of Bhawani Singh started to accelerate along the rails. The Karthik trainee sailed ahead smoothly to take charge approaching the distance post and stretched out sweetly to draw away from the struggling duo. Rodrigo was giving a good chunk of weight to his rivals and that possibly made his task difficult. Mad Love added further misery to Rodrigo as she rallied from a long way back to beat Rodrigo comfortably for the runner up berth. Vikramaditya ended a tame fourth.

Pesi Shroff trained Faith (Admiralty – Peritomoreno, Sohna Stud) showed pleasing maturity for a debutante and did everything right to pull off a memorable victory. On the other hand, Queens Pride jumped out awkwardly and jostled with Faith before settling down, but Faith focussed on the task at hand and settled nice and quick.

Pegaso led them into the homestretch with Brave Beauty and Ataash right behind, Faith moved up and these four were abreast with 400m to go. Faith was the quickest of the lot and got past Brave Beauty easily. Ataash too moved inward causing Brave Beauty to check at a crucial juncture. Faith meanwhile had accelerated smoothly and was on course to victory. Queens Pride warmed up late and covered a lot of ground; however, he could not catch up with Faith, but managed to pip Ataash for the second place. Brave Beauty may have been hindered and that also would have broken her stride at an important time. Fashion Icon was all at sea and failed to make an impact.

Nirad Karanjawala trained She is On Fire (Speaking of Which – Sacred Fire, Usha Stud) took the leap over an extended trip quite well as the mare showed a lot of steam to progress steadily in the straight to down the determined effort of Mascara.

She is On Fire was well off the pace while Mascara led right from the start. She is On Fire jumped out smartly and led for the first couple of strides, before jockey Zervan held her and let the others go past, eventually settling the mare in the second last position.

Mascara led them into the straight and kept galloping without showing any signs of slowing down. She is On Fire looked good and ready to pounce on the front runners, biding her time to open up the throttle. Once Zervan asked her to accelerate, the Nirad ward stepped up pace and started to eat up ground with every stride. She soon caught up with Mascara; there was a brief fight between the duo, however, She Is On fire always looked the winner once she got close enough to Mascara. She is on Fire won by a narrow margin of half a length from Mascara, Brazos stayed on to finish in the money.

Faisal Abbas trained Kardashian (David Livingstone – Joleen, Hazara Stud) pulled of a neat start-to-finish victory to achieve her maiden success on her tenth start in the opening race of the day. Five kilo claiming jockey Vinod got her to fire away once they entered the homestretch. Those close behind were not up to it and fell back without giving a fight. Favourite Candescent Star moved up far too late and could not even raise hope at any time. Kardashian won by a margin of three lengths beating Candescent Star comprehensively. Grey Falcon ran a forward race and did well to finish in the money.

SN Joshi trained Power of Neath (Phoenix Tower – Neath, Manjri Stud) added to his solitary win with a fine start to finish effort in the concluding race of the day. He powered his way into the straight with a good burst of speed and built a handy lead approaching the distance post. Anoushka moved up from the mid bunch and started to inch closer to the leader in the final furlong. Power of Neath, with jockey Akshay Gaikwad up, had a safe cushion to fall back on and that came in handy as Anoushka finished on at a good clip only to fall shy by a short-head. Allied Attack came from a long way back to finish a good third, while Campaign too improved positions to catch a spot in the frame.

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff and jockey PS Chouhan scored a double each.