Pesi Shroff dominates weekend horse racing action in Pune

This picture has been used for representational purpose

Trainer Pesi Shroff's horses won five races over the weekend, including feature events on both days. Three-year-old Presidential bagged the Villoo C Poonawalla Million on Sunday, adding to the success of North Star who had outclassed his two rivals a day earlier to win the Mysore Race Club Trophy. Jockey P S Chouhan guided both winners.

Shroff's other winners were Exotique, who was ridden by Neeraj Rawal to a thrilling victory over a runaway longshot Sandman (Vishal N Bunde up), in Saturday's opening event; Enigma, who displayed her sprinting prowess yet again when she recovered from an early positional disadvantage to claim the Moosa M Hoosein Trophy on Sunday in the hands of rookie Kirtish Bhagat; and Northern Lights who registered his maiden victory in style, mocking rivals in the Ismail Khan Plate.

Shroff thus further strengthened his grip on the champion trainer's crown for the truncated version of the Pune season which is set to get over on November 28. The ace-jockey-turned-champion-trainer presently enjoys a commanding lead in the trainers' tally with 14 points, way ahead of his nearest rival Imtiaz Sait (8 points).

Trainer Imtiaz Sait also had a fruitful weekend; he led in three winners, two of which claimed trophy races: the Kumar R Dalal Trophy was picked up by Pride's Angel who scored an authoritative victory in the hands of A Sandesh; and the Cowas Nazir Trophy (Div I), in which Endeavour (Kirtish Bhagat up) had a less than perfect start, but still managed to Inflict a crushing defeat on his hapless rivals, widening the margin of victory to over half a dozen lengths in the final furlong. Sait's third winner was Flaming Lamborgini (A Sandesh up) who triumphed in the Floods Of Fortune Plate on Saturday.

Also View: Sania Mirza turns 35: Fun and candid photos with husband Shoaib and son Izhaan