The MiD DAY Trophy, run at the Mahalaxmi racetrack yesterday, turned out to be quite a stunner.
The MiD DAY Trophy, run at the Mahalaxmi racetrack yesterday, turned out to be quite a stunner.
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Hot Race: Brazilian jockey S A DeSousa (left), astride Il Tabarro noses ahead of River Dragon and Bluebird to clinch the MiD DAY Trophy at the Mahalaxmi racetrack yesterday. DeSousa was adjudged a photo finish winner at the end of the thrilling race. pics/Shadab Khan |
Three of the 16 three-year-olds in the fray galloped past the winning post locked together, and when the judge consulted the photo finish camera, the nose of Il Tabarro (S A DeSousa up) was found to be ahead of River Dragon (James Doyle up), who in turn was a 'head' ahead of Bluebird (N S Parmar up). The win odds on the three horses were 7 to 1, 200 to 1 & 60 to 1, and there was not one punter in the entire country who got it right. As a result, the entire collection in the tanala pool of the MiD DAY Trophy went unclaimed!
Akshay's several firstsInterestingly, MiD DAY's own tips almost swept the card, having named 11 winners out of 12 races, which also included Il Tabarro, the winner of MiD DAY Trophy, as outright first choice. But ironically, film star Akshay Kumar, the special guest of honour roped in by MiD DAY for the occasion, candidly confessed he backed a loser in the race. "I came here for the first time, bet for the first time, and lost for the first time," he told a receptive audience that enjoyed every moment of his short speech from the dais.
IL Tabarro was trained by Vinayak andridden by S A DeSousa.
The Brazilian jockey took a good jump from the gates and was content to race third or fourth all along, before urging the Ontario u2014 Sexy Gal filly immediately on rounding the turn. Il Tabarro moved up swiftly and assumed command, but looked like faltering when Royal Porthcawl, River Dragon and Bluebird started to move menacingly.
DeSousa however worked furiously on her and ensured a narrow victory.
