Rookie rider K Bhagat scores hat-trick

Mahalaxmi racecourse in Mumbai. Pic/Shadab Khan

Apprentice rider Kirtish Bhagat put in a sensational show at the Sunday races held at Mahalaxmi. Booked for three back-to-back rides on the Sunday card, the five-kg claimer rookie reeled off all three races with confidence.

His treble also included a fluent win astride the Imtiaz Sait-trained Iron Age, who showed a clean pair of heels to his three rivals in the Seth Ramnath Daga Trophy, the feature event of the afternoon. Iron Age is owned by Mr & Mrs Shapoor Mistry of the Manjri stud in partnership with D R Thacker, Vikram D Shah and S R Sanas.

Bhagat, astride Iron Age, hit the front from the word go as the starter dispatched the small, four-horse field for the class I sprint. Bringing the field into the homestretch, Bhagat nudged the Imtiaz Sait ward, who skipped away to post a stylish victory as none of his three rivals, including the late-moving Silver Flames (P S Kaviraj up), could get close to cause him any discomfort. Iron Age clocked 57.81 seconds for the five-furlong trip.

Just a race earlier, Bhagat had steered the Pesi Shroff-trained Hioctane to victory in the Dr A H Sayed Plate. Racing fifth or sixth in a field of eight runners, Bhagat brought Hioctane from the outside after entering the homestretch, grabbed the lead passing the 300-meter marker, and kept the four-year-old filly going even as Dashrath Singh astride the favourite, Memorable Moment, desperately tried to bridge the gap in the final furlong.

Bhagat's third victory came astride his final ride for the day when Rambunctious, carrying the same K N Dhunjibhoy silks as that of Hioctane, managed to gain a thrilling victory in a close finish involving three horses. What was noteworthy was that Rambunctious was actually edged out by Summer Night near the 200-meter marker, but Bhagat kept his cool and wrested back the initiative immediately to finally prevail by half a length over Speed Air (A Sandesh up) who spared a short neck to Summer Night (C S Jodha up). Rambunctious was also trained by Pesi Shroff who ended the day with a double.