PUNJABI GIRL FLIRTS WITH THE OPPOSITION

Punjabi Girl winning the Fillies Championship Stakes, Gr.1 from Realmsoffantasy and Isn’t She Lovely

Celebrations must be on at Dashmesh Stud Farm with their inmate Win Legend wiping the slate clean in the first two Classics of the Bangalore Summer Season. Hyderabad import Punjabi Girl (Win Legend-Chapmans Peak) produced and impressive run from the rear of the field, to take all in her wake winning the Fillies Championship Stakes, Gr.1 and then a week later Sir Cecil (Win Legend-Elusive Trust) maintained his unbeaten record in winning the Colts Championship Stakes, Gr.1.

Trainer S S Attaollahi, Mr. Prabhakar Reddy & Mr. Tegbir Brar leading in Punjabi Girl

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here were many contenders in the fillies Classic that had the potential to win, with almost half the field being outstation horses. Catalonia came into the race as favourite after her win in the Forbes Breeders Juvenile Fillies Championship Stakes, Gr.3 over the mile, even though her first outing in Bangalore saw her finish way behind Sir Cecil in the Karnataka Juvenile Million. Punjabi Girl had already shown her mettle against the likes of Catalonia and Realmsoffantasy in Hyderabad yet in her first outing in Bangalore, now transferred to the yard of S S Attaollahi from Hyderabad-based D Netto, she was unimpressive. She took her time in the Fillies Championship Stakes sitting well off the pace under P Trevor while Oomph set the pace. Into the straight the Hyderabad challenger Realmsoffantasy and Isn’t She Lovely set sail for the final challenge with the former looking to be a winner. When Punjabi Girl was cleared of her trouble passage and alerted to the challenge, she was relentless in pursuit, and was soon on the heels of the front duo, taking charge to win ¾ length ahead of Realmsoffantasy with Isn’t She Lovely a similar distance behind in third. The favourite Catalonia finished in fourth a further 2¼lengths away.

Punjabi Girl has now won four of her six starts finishing fifth on both those occasions, having won two Group 3 races and a Group 1 with career earnings of Rs. 60,11,179. Looks like she will stay further so one can look forward to seeing her take on the boys in the Derby.

Mr Hari Mohan Naidu, Chairman BTC presenting the trophy to Mr Prabhakar Reddy