Santissimo, the three-year old colt schooled by Pesi Shroff, had such an enviable career record that it was hardly surprising that he was expected to have it easy in the Pune Derby. However, the bold decision of the owners of Redefined to pay a hefty late entry fee and allow the colt to have a tilt at this regional classic prevented this group event from being reduced to a one-sided affair. Redefined justified the faith imposed in his ability by Prasanna Kumar when accomplishing the feat of conquering Santissimo in the HPSL sponsored Pune Derby (Gr.1) on Sunday. Before being crowned as the victor, the dark bay son of Phoenix Tower out of Symi had to fight a tough battle not once but twice; first on the racetrack and then in the stewards’ room. Redefined fortuitously emerged triumphant in both these duels. The pre-race excitement notwithstanding, the dramatic scenes witnessed during the day were not confined to the Derby race.

As soon as the starter flagged off the eight-horse field, Doctor Dolly decided to dictate the terms with Treat, Pyrite and Inquilab on her trail. Akshay Kumar had settled Redefined close behind the quartet ahead while Trevor Patel aboard Santissimo followed his main adversary. The order of running did not change much until the horses started their climb up the hill where Akshay showed urgency in bringing Redefined gradually to the fore, Trevor too was in control of the situation and kept Redefined within his sight. As the closely bunched field except Dancing Star moved towards the home stretch, Redefined immediately took charge of the running. Santissimo was cruising at this juncture and, while bridging the narrow gap, appeared poised to go sailing past Redefined. Santissimo almost ran into Redefined, who showed no signs of succumbing to the former’s aggression as Akshay was relentless in driving him out. The second favourite shifted out slightly which rattled Santissimo, who went wide for a stride when Trevor tried to regain the momentum. But Redefined kicked on to defeat the crowd favourite by a length with Dash rallying on late to finish third while Inquilab ended fourth. Trevor expectedly raised an objection claiming that he was bumped by the winner when his mount was full of running and Akshay’s whip also hit Santissimo’s face twice before the winning post. After a long deliberation, the stewards decided not to disturb the judges’ order of placing. Bred at the Manjri Horse Breeders’ Farm, Redefined is co-owned by Messrs Ashok Ranpise, DR Thacker, Prasanna Kumar, K. Kamesh, Ram Shroff and Raj Shroff.

Mansingh Jadhav’s protégé Miss American Pie showed good initial speed when taking control of the running in the Noshir & Dolly Dhunjibhoy Sprint Million (Gr.3) and held on gallantly to record her second hat-trick at Pune. In the initial stages of the six-furlong trip, a lot of jostling was witnessed between Magileto, Market King and Time And Tide as they sought to take an advantageous position when going in pursuit of Miss American Pie. A. Sandesh astride Time And Tide seemed to have no control over his mount as he nearly bumped and leaned on to Antony Raj-ridden Market King, who passed on the interference to Trevor-partnered Magileto, who was racing towards the rails. While Sandesh was busy ruining the chances of both Market King and Magileto, Miss American Pie (Gleneagles – Reine Australe) stole a march over her rivals and the lead she established when entering the straight proved to be a cushion in the end. NS Parmar went flat out astride the bay filly, who held on gallantly to win in a blanket finish. Miss American Pie was separated by a neck from runner-up Time And Tide. A short-head behind was Magileto who, after being hampered by Market King, came with a renewed effort to finish a good third while late-finishing Bazooka Babe ran half-length away beating Snowfall for the fourth position by a nose. An objection was lodged by Trevor against Sandesh narrating the details of the jostling incident. Surprisingly, in their wisdom, the stewards’ ruled that the incident was accidental, which was certainly not the case.

The Imtiaz Sait-nursed filly Christophany also registered a hat-trick by upsetting the applecart of the two fancied runners – In They Light and Tehani, in the Pioneer Trophy. Antony atop Christophany disputed the lead with Vincent Van Gogh briefly after the start but decided to allow the former to show the way. Fast Pace raced alongside Flaming Lamborgini behind the leaders with In Thy Light and Tehani biding their time in the rear. Vincent Van Gogh veered out towards his left while turning for home which facilitated a clear run towards the rails for Antony to make his bid. Taking cue from her rider, Christophany (Planetaire – Nuray) zoomed ahead and it ceased to be a contest thereafter as she won authoritatively. Fast Pace finished second whilst hard-ridden Tehani ran third ahead of Bubbly Boy, who pegged back In Thy Light for the fourth spot.

Come September from Narendra Lagad’s yard graduated from the maiden ranks with a narrow victory in the Jimmy Umrigar Trophy, the event where the two debutants saddled by Shroff had a disappointing start to their career. Favourite Bluebird veered towards his left soon after jumping out, which resulted in S. Saqlain being unseated from the saddle whilst Eagle Day was slowly off and trailed the field throughout. Meanwhile, Wind Dancer took charge of the running and was closely followed by Knight Crusader, Mumtaz and Come September. Antony hustled Knight Crusader into the lead as soon as the heads turned for home with Mumtaz and Come September both making a desperate bid to catch him. Mumtaz improved steadily in response to G. Vivek’s call and tackled Knight Crusader in the dying moments of the race but she was stunned in the last stride by CS Jodha-steered Come September (Gusto – Epsilon Orionis). Star Impact warmed up late and her eye-catching effort could only fetch her the third spot, a nose ahead of Knight Crusader.

CS Jodha had earlier partnered Adhirajsingh Jodha-groomed Aperol, who claimed the upper division of the Pune Police Commissioner’s Trophy. Aperol dashed into the lead from the gates and made every post of the six-furlong event a winning one. Dulari, Lord Eric and Quicker were in a futile chase after being outpaced by the winner in the straight and it was Pure who came with a late burst to take the runner-up berth ahead of Lord Eric and Quicker.

At the start of the day’s proceedings, Adhirajsingh had led in Escape Velocity in the lower division of the Pune Police Commissioner’s Trophy. Sandesh aboard Escape Velocity allowed no-hoper Moonlight Kiss to do initial running and waited to pounce on her till the field turned for home. Escape Velocity (Fiero – Memory) accelerated nicely when Sandesh released the brakes and trounced his rivals enroute his second career success. Silver Braid, Toscana and Sentinel followed him home. Joint favourite Ariyana Star ran far below expectations when finishing off the board.

Top-weighted Bugatti came back into his own and scored a fluent win over the mile and half long Jayant M. Shah & Champak M. Shah Gold Trophy.  His stable-mate Doron tried runaway tactics and almost succeeded as he was in command till about a hundred metres from home where Vivek-partnered Bugatti (Multidimensional – Moonlight Romance) wore him down. Divine Hope tried hard to overtake Doron in the straight but failed to quicken and ended third, well ahead of Uzi.

The five-year old mare Whatsinaname finally brought home the bacon in the concluding event of the day. Asad Siddiqui-nurtured Whatsinaname raced in a striking position behind leader Operation Finale till the turn where she surged ahead. Saqlain then skilfully guided Whatsinaname (Admiralty – Sylvette) towards an overdue victory by warding off the threat posed by She’s A Teaser, late-finishing Sorrento Secret and Showman.