CAPTAIN COURAGE SHOCKS THEM ALL IN THE DR S C JAIN SPRINTERS CHAMPIONSHIP, GR.2

Unfortunately Ruffina was not participating in this race, and her absence filled the competitors with great delight, as most of the runners in this race have received weight and a beating from the champion sprinter in the past. Only seven sprinters faced the starter in this year’s rendition of the race with Bateleur emerging the favourite, although St Andrews and Lincoln had their fair share of supporters. The Pesi Shroff-trained Captain Courage (Admiralofthefleet-Celestrella) had last won in Pune in September, 2016 and now chose the grand stage to win a Group race.

Iron Age took up the running from Lincoln with Bateleur on the rails, Captain Courage was next followed by Holy Smoke, St Andrews and Clymene. Before they turned for home Lincoln raced up alongside Iron Age and the two kept extending the lead with Bateleur, St Andrews and Captain Courage getting into attack mode. St Andrews came with a strong challenge, while Captain Courage had to be shifted out to continue the challenge. Inside the last 150m St Andrews took over the running from Iron Age but found a deadly challenge looming in the form of Captain Courage who mustered all under P S Chouhan to go past to claim the Dr S C Jain Sprinters Championship, Gr.2 and a nomination for the Sprinters Cup to be run in Hyderabad in March. In second was St Andrews, 2¼ lengths away followed by Clymene and Holy Smoke.

The seven-year-old Captain Courage, owned by Mr Niraj Tyagi and Mr Vikas Sachdeva will next be seen taking on Ruffina once again, in the Sprinters’ Cup in Hyderabad.