19 December,2009 06:55 AM IST | | Prakash Gosavi
The MiD DAY Trophy has attracted an exciting field of 16 three-year-old horses. They all will be looking for their first career win.
The special race that will commemorate the long association of MiD DAY as media partner of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) Ltd will feature as a lead up race to the feature event. The MiD DAY Trophy is scheduled to be run at 3.30 pm, just half an hour before the second Classic of the season, the grade 1, Indian 2000 Guineas.
Jockey Richard Hughes (yellow shirt) zooms away with Autonomy to
win the last edition of the MiD DAY Trophy at Mahalaxmi last February
Only two of the 16 runners will be making their debut, while the remaining 14 have had some racing experience. The winner will take home Rs 250,000 and an exquisite trophy valued at Rs 25,000, while the runner up will get Rs 105,000. Horses finishing third and fourth will get Rs 57,000 & Rs 26,000 respectively.
The race is bound to culminate in a thrilling contest, and my advance guess (jockey declarations have not been made available yet) is that the winner should emerge from the quintet of Aston Martin, Baskerville, Bluebird, Royal Porthcawl & Il Tabarro, and it is the last-named trained by Vinayak who has a definite edge that may help her to win the MiD DAY Trophy.
Whosoever wins, be there to witness a most thrilling, bumper 12-race card that will begin at 12 noon on Sunday.
