RUFFINA TROUNCES THE OPPOSITION IN THE NOSHIR & DOLLY DHUNJIBHOY SPRINT MILLION, GR.3

Ten of the best sprinters faced the starter for the Noshir & Dolly Dhunjibhoy Sprint Million, Gr.3 run on Derby day. The Dallas Todywalla trained-Ruffina (Excellent Art-Miss Danehill) was the odds on favourite with the rest of the field available in double digits. She was giving all round weight to the field and as such, there was still that ray of hope in the opposition as they lined up at the starting gates.

Wild Fire set a scorching pace from Lincoln, followed by Timeless, Congressional, St Andrews, Holy Smoke, Captain Courage with Ruffina in third last position. Wild Fire brought the filed into the straight with Lincoln on her tail. Congressional, St Andrews, Timeless were on their outside, with Ruffina in the shadows behind searching for room from where she could launch her challenge. Jockey Neeraj Rawal had to abandon all hope of making his challenge on the outside and switched over to the inside, manoeuvring his way through horses. Finally seeing daylight, she unleashed her magical turn of foot, and within a fraction of a second she tore through the front runners running away into the lead, and with each stride increasing the distance between herself and the rest of the field. This is the fastest winning time, at any track in India, for the 6f trip, and she did it winning by 4 lengths in 1:07.93sec. Governor General came with a good run to finish second with Lincoln and St Andrews in third and fourth respectively.

Ruffina, the property of Dr Cyrus S Poonawalla, Mr Adar C Poonawalla, Mrs Natasha A Poonawalla, Mr Saleem Fazelbhoy, Mr Dinsha P Shroff & Mr Munchi P Shroff has definitely proved to be one of the all-time great sprinters in India. She has now won 10 of her 12 starts including seven Group races, two Group 1 races; one Group 2 and four Group 3 races with career earnings standing at ₹1,70,44,750.