Pesi Shroff trained King`s Ransom accomplished the task of winning the Gr 1 Betway Pune Derby with a thrilling victory over Dangerous at the Pune race track on Sunday. Things fell in place for the Pesi Shroff trainee King`s Ransom on whom veteran jockey Pradeep Chouhan rode a confident race to ensure that he won back-to-back Pune Derbys having been successful on Zuccarelli last year. The trainer-jockey combination of Pesi Shroff and Chouhan had a rewarding day being associated with three wins including the record-setting win of home-bred Enigma in the graded Sprint event.

Success always chases those who aspire for it and make fewer mistakes. Pesi Shroff is a past master at both riding and training classics with amazing regularity so much so that he will always be one-up on his competitors. To the credit of young Adhirajsingh Jodha, Dangerous, despite not having an ideal lead-up to the Pune Derby having been forced to be given a lead-up race just after recovering from a setback and performing miserably showed the spark of old. Dangerous went down fighting and possibly with better luck, could have provided the trainer with his first Derby success. But it was not to be as Chouhan showed perfect temperament as well as brought his experience to play to drive out King`s Ransom to get the better of Dangerous in the closing strides of the races for a popular win. King`s Ransom had everything going her way and had a dream run along the inside after being held up in the rear of the field. On the other hand, the relatively inexperienced C S Jodha might have possibly made the mistake of going to the front a little too soon. It is easy to analyze after a race but unfortunately, those who have to think on their feet, don`t have hindsight as their guide!

It is not that King`s Ransom too had ideal preparation for the Derby. As the trainer had explained before the race that he would have been happier with a lead-up race but a setback ensured that he had to run his ward in the Derby with preparations he would not be comfortable with. The desire or rather the pressure from his owner Vijay Shirke to run King`s Ransom in the Pune Derby made him go for a contingency plan. Vijay Shirke who was elated with the success of King`s Ransom later said: ``In my long years as a racehorse owner, this is one Derby I haven`t won. My horses Jaguar, Cardinal, Germanicus and Circle of Bliss had finished second best and I was very keen to win the home Derby. I did put pressure on the trainer to have my ward ready for this race,`` he added. The sportive owner richly deserved the success of King`s Ransom which ran on his colours and had his friends as partners.

Adhirajsingh Jodha said: ``In hindsight, I could say that my jockey made his move little early in the race and was caught up with in the dying moments of the race. I am happy with the way Dangerous ran the race. The filly will stay back and will be campaigned in the Indian classis.`` The trainer is based at Chennai and thus is resisting the temptation of picking up some easy classics back home.

Coming back to the race, Fortunate Son went at a decent clip in front followed by Emperor Rodrigo, Cour De Lion, Kalamisti, Wall Street, Dyf, Dangerous and King`s Ransom. While Chouhan waited patiently on King`s Ransom at the rear, Jodha on Dangerous began to improve his position from the six furlong marker and by the final bend, had drawn abreast of the pace-setter. Dangerous took over the running at the top of the straight with King`s Ransom quickly improving position along the inside. King`s Ransom produced a strong gallop in the hands of Chouhan and managed to collar Dangerous in the shadow of the post. Dyf who went wide at the final bend, finished on purposefully to take the third position more than four lengths adrift. The rest of the horses lacked the class to be competing in an event of this caliber.

It was yet again the familiar story of the Usha Stud Farm occupying the first two slots. King`s Ransom is by Multidimensional while Dangerous is by the emerging star stallion Speaking of Which. The Usha Stud Farm produce has simply swept all the classics in India in the last one year. Jockey Pradeep Chouhan who had exuded confidence about the prospects of King`s Ransom by stating that the filly`s workouts were exceptional could not have executed his job better.

Pesi Shroff had reason to be excited about the way things turned out as Enigma, bred at his own Chester Stud Farm, scorched the turf while winning the Gr 3 Noshir & Dolly Dhunjibhoy Sprint Million, a terms race for four-year-olds and over. Enigma was backed with great conviction by the punters with the odds on Iron Age drifting out indicating that something was amiss with the prolific performer. Enigma did not disappoint, producing brilliant acceleration in the final furlong in the hands of jockey Chouhan to get the better of Leopard Rock to win in an incredible national record timing of one minute 06.50 seconds. Fast Rain was a surprise third ahead of Market King. Iron Age ran way below expectations, losing steam in the stretch to finish disappointingly.

Another Pesi Shroff ward Claudius swamped the opposition by a widening margin of eight lengths in the 1400 metres Jimmy Umrigar Trophy, a race for maiden three-year-olds. Chouhan waited with Claucidus till turning for home as Phenom did the pace-setting. The moment Claudius was asked to quicken, the progeny of Roderic O`Connor did so with amazing alacrity to go storming clear for a very impressive win. Phenom stayed on to take the second position. Kimiko who was sluggish at the start ran on to snatch the third position by a whisker over Prinia.

Hoshidar Daji trained Agostino Carracci justified the expectations with a resolute win over Divine Thoughts in the 1200 metres Pune Police Commissoner`s Trophy (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 46. Divine Thoughts held sway for well into the straight before being overhauled by the eventual winner who under a strong drive by Trevor Patel prevailed with a measure of comfort. Alphine Star ran on well to take the third slot. Akshay Kumar had no problem in steering Altaf Hussain trained My Princess for an easy win over Moment of Madness in the lower division of the race. Mighty Thunder was third.

Jockey Bhawani Singh had a double for the day. Bhawani Singh got the desired result on Sanjay Kolse trained Efsir in the 1400 metres F A & K A Irani Trophy, a race for horses in the lowest category. Zacapa and Toofan were engaged in a battle for supremacy all the way in the straight but closer home, both these horses were overhauled quite easily by Esfir. Zacapa managed to keep the second position. Bhawani Singh rode lesser fancied Hela from the stables of trainer Karthik Ganapathy to victory in the 1000 metres Vinayak Trophy, a race for horses rated 4 to 30. Favourite Power of Neath was second ahead of Demetrius. The other lowest category race of the day, the 1400 metres Play.rwitc.com Cup (Div I), went the way of Altamash trained Rue St Honore who under a driving finish by jockey Neeraj Rawal managed to pull off a last stride win over Indian Crown. Anoushka was third.