Jockey Suraj Narredu was in his elements, booting home a quadruple including the success on Phoenix Fire in the 1200 metre October Handicap, a race for three year olds, which highlighted the card of nine events that were gone through on Saturday. It rained briefly during the course of racing and jockeys began to protest that the track was not conducive for racing. The authorities decided to shift racing to the inner portion of the track and racing resumed after an interruption of more than half and hour, keeping the race goers guessing as to the reason why racing was being delayed.

Whenever JAI President Pradeep Chouhan is on hand and if it rains briefly, he is always up with the demand to cancel racing stating that it is dangerous for jockeys. So far no one has seen any serious racing mishap in soft going as against hard going when more horses have broken down. But then Chouhan has this knack of mobilising his fellow jockeys as he is perfected the art of telling the authorities who the real bosses are. The Pune track is advertised as a monsoon track and just the other day, the professionals were crying that the track had become too hard in the absence of rain and races deserves to be cancelled under such circumstances. And a brief spell of rain was enough to cause an agitation by the jockeys. Either the clerk of the course deserves to be sent on holiday for this sort of situation emerging frequently or the jockeys should be told that it is their job to ride and leave the job of decision-making to the authorities. Ironically, the most forceful race that Chouhan rode in recent months was in the last race of the day when he drove out Ensign with all the resources at his command and the horse lost by a whisker. The horse ran straight as an arrow and the horses that participated in the race kept straight course and were unaffected by the underfoot conditions which appeared perfect. And this came about just by shifting the inner rails and everything fell in place! Was this more psychological?

Coming back to the main event of the day, Imtiaz Sait trained Seahorse was made the favourite ahead of Sentimental and Phoenix Fire. These days it is hard to fathom how the horses trained by the veteran performs and Seahorse put up a poor show, going down without a fight to Phoenix Fire. The lesser fancied runner tracked Desert Lily into the straight before bouncing clear to win easily from Seahorse and Sentimental who too put up a tame effort.

Ageless had lost all her chances by taking a lethargic start at the gates and because of such behaviour, she was the least supported this time out in the 1400 metres Mac Bruce Plate, a race for horses rated 60 to 86. Congressional who had a good forward run last time out was backed to the exclusion of the rest and the favourite obliged in the hands of Pradeep Chouhan who has become a nightmare for the punters as his favourites are failing with irritating frequency. Congressional managed to thwart the bid of front running Congressional to land the spoils. Himalayan Queen made a late rally to finish third while La Traviata who attracted some betting due to the presence of Trevor in the saddle, ran like a dud.

Money kept pouring in on Daji trained Critics Choice whose odds shortened dramatically in the 1200 metres Gobelin Plate (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 46.Stand And Dance who had good credentials having had the benefit of a forward race, was allowed to run at nourishing odds. In the event, Critics Choice was sluggish at the start and then whipped around causing the punters to lose their investment even before the horses had settled down after the jump out. Stand And Dance moved briskly from about the fourth position and though he was in danger of being boxed by the front running Speedy Baby and Chase The Ace, Suraj was able to push his mount through. Stand And Dance at once quickened and won by a huge margin over late finishing Chlobud and Speed Baby. There was a big interruption due to jockeys` agitation before the lower division of the race could be conducted. Shining Melody was installed the favourite and was quoted at 2 to 1. Surprisingly the odds remained the same with not even slight change despite lapse of more than 40 minutes before the race could be started. It gave a strange sort of feeling as one could not make out whether the horse remained at that price only because of the presence of Trevor in the saddle. Usually horses tend to drift or shorten in price but the odds remained static. The only flow that one could notice pertained to the second favourite which oscillated between Sweet As Honey and Daytona. Suraj had Sweet As Honey handily placed going into the final two furlongs and the progeny of Arabian Gulf produced a winning gallop in the final furlong to win with a measure of comfort. Shining Melody showed no urgency but only succeeded in heading Absolute Jewel and Imperial Princess for the runner up berth.

Adhiraj Jodha`s Simply Shining had twice let down as a fancied runners but those two forward efforts were sufficient to make her as the favourite to win the 1400 metres Artois Plate, a race for lowest category rated horses. Simply Shining showed up prominently at the top of the straight and opened up a useful lead going into the final furlong which held her in good stead. Ensign, under a strong ride by Chouhan, closed up the gap menacingly but fell short by the proverbial whisker.

After an impressive win, Star had been given an outing under an apprentice when the four year old had failed to figure on board. As a result, Star was quoted at nourishing odds but close to race time, solid money came on the horse. In keeping with market expectations, Star moved up with raking strides in the run in for home and had sealed the fate of the race long way from home in the hands of jockey Dashrath Singh. Joleene was a tame second ahead of Ainra.

This season`s Pune racing has run to a pattern of a single jockey dominating a day`s racing. While in the past, Trevor, Sandesh, Dashrath had their share, it was the turn of Suraj as Trevor took a back seat as all but one of his horses obliged much to the disappointment of race goers who seem to be backing the jockey because of the success that he has been enjoying of late at all centres barring Kolkata. Atalya was another favourite to let down in the 1600 metres Southern Empire Double Stakes where veteran trainer Imtiaz Sait trained Show Biz made a successful start to finish mission, winning with ease from Alanzo and Atalya.

Starry Brook was once again made the favourite to win the 2400 metres Hills And Stars Plate, a race for horses rated40 to 66. Starry Brook did all the front running but slackened in the final furlong which allowed Square Moon to overhaul the front runner and record a win at comfortable win in the hands of Suraj. Starry Brook however managed to neck out Saker to keep the runner up berth.

The opening race of the day, the 1600 metres Kir Royale Plate, saw Sanjay Kolse trained Jazzmyn backed to the exclusion of the rest but the favourite disappointed. Intelligence slammed the opposition storming clear in the straight to win by a widening margin of five lengths. The got abroad filly had both the form and the pedigree to deserve the tag of a favourite. Jazzmyn was hard pressed to retain the second place by Korol who made a late rally on the inside.