Jaandaar wins Villoo C Poonawalla Pune Derby (Gr 1)

Vivek G astride Jaandaar raises his hand in triumph at the finish of the Villoo C Poonawalla Pune Derby (Gr 1) at the Pune racetrack on Sunday. pic/RWITC

It was business as usual at the Pune racetrack on Sunday as trainer Pesi Shroff led in Jaandaar, winner of the Villoo C Poonawalla Pune Derby (Gr 1), adding yet another Classic to his tally which already crossed the century mark recently; jockey Vivek won his second Pune Derby in as many years; and Cyrus Poonawalla, along with his son Adar, made sure the record crowd which spilled onto the lawns after filling the Pune stands to capacity, was treated to a great experience.

Race dynamics

Only 5 runners faced the starter as Rampage was a late withdrawal from the six-horse field, and Iron Mirage, trainer Prasanna Kumar's challenger from Bangalore, ridden by Akshay Kumar, hit the front as usual. What was unusual though was that it wasn't the usual blazing fast pace, but rather, a moderate pace (600m in 38.6s) which jockey P Trevor astride Beast Mode read perfectly, and chose to stalk the leader, while Vivek on Jaandaar took things easy in the early part, preferring to race behind even Avener (A Sandesh up). As the pace heated up approaching the final turn Vivek, in a desperate bid to improve position, realised he was badly pocketed at the 400m marker with Beast Mode in front, Iron Mirage on the right, and Avener on the left.

However, Jaandaar was so superior to them all that the moment Vivek forced his way between Beast Mode and Avener, it was all over bar the shouting, though Sandesh astride Avener tried to desperately bridge the gap, but did not make any impression, except reducing the margin of victory to less than a length.

Jaandaar (Earthlight - Dance Awhile) raced in the silks of Vijay Shirke, who owns him in partnership with his wife and son, and was bred at the Sohna stud farm.