Blue Ribbon Plate witnesses a rare result

In what could be termed as a rare result, the Blue Ribbon Plate witnessed a dead hit, as two horses emerged as winners on the special day of the Mumbai Meeting held at the Mahalaxmi Race Course on Saturday.

It was Saltoro and Cosmopolitan, the horses who were locked in a dead hit result, as both timed 1:43.33 in this mile event. Jockeys involved were C Rajendra (Saltoro) and Z Zervan (Cosmopolitan) and the trainers and owners were Uday Bhan Singh and Faisal A Abbas and Sidharth Singh and Mohan Thakur, M/s Shagun Thakur and Shikhar respectively.

It was Taanush, who set the pace in the race and was leading till 400m for the winning post. Saltoro, who was behind the early leader, hit the front with 100m for the post and with 70m Cosmopolitan joined Saltoro for the dead hit result.

Dead hit results are rare, but in 1995 for the Hemavati Cup held in Bangalore, this event made it to the Gunnies book of world record when the horses owned by the same person, trained by the same trainer, carrying same weight (59kgs) and had jockeys,who were brothers Satish and Malesh, were locked in a dead hit. What made this race more unique was the fact that they were both bred at the Poonawalla Stud Farm.

“I can never forget the race. It was Malesh and I, who were riding Great Spectacle and Forest King respectively and it was a dead hit. I have a feeling that that dead hit was a real hit with so many similarities,” said Satish Narredu, while talking to DNA.

“It is very rare in our case and as per my knowledge, it has never happened in the world,” he added. The owner were MAM Ramaswamy and the trainer was JH Foley.

Results: 1. The Jehan Numa Plate (1,400m): 1. Star Trainer, 2. Freany, 3. Avon Creek
2. The Blue Ribbon Plate (1,600m): 1. Saltoro, 1. Cosmopolitan, 3. Mischevious
3. The Jockeys Trophy (1,200m): 1. Rose Bowl, 2. Native Strategy, 3. Absolute Reality
4. The Summer Dust Plate (1,800m): 1. Eagle Mountain, 2. Living The Dream, 3. Sacred Relic
5. The Gold Dust Plate (1,000m): 1. Any Time Money, 2. Game Of Power, 3. Amaranza
6. The Adam’s Glory Plate (1,000m): 1. Bullet, 2. Persian Lily, 3. Star Of Zoltan
7. The SA Wahid Plate (1,200m): 1. Sea Wonder, 2. Victor Ivanov, Houdini