Winning spree

Five horses, partly owned by Parsis won five major races in the first three months of the year. Mahateji, a filly owned by Rakesh R. Jhunjunwala, Berjis Minoo Desai and Ashok Kumar Gupta, won the Golconda Derby Stakes, the feature event of the races at the Malakpet racecourse in Hyderabad on January 28, 2018. Bred by Usha Stud Farm, trained by Srinivas Reddy and ridden by jockey Fergus Sweeney, this was reportedly the first Derby win for the trainer and jockey.
It is not often that local horses dominate the classic scene and as such the victory of Mahateji in the Grade I, 2,400 m event "brought tremendous happiness to a massive crowd that came to witness… Mahateji asserted her supremacy in no uncertain manner,” it was reported on YouTube.

A week prior, on January 21, Desai and co-owner Ameeta Mehra won the Villoo Poonawalla Indian Oaks (VPIO), Grade I, with their four-year-old filly Manifold, trained by Pesi Shroff. According to a report on www.indiarace.com, Manifold, also from the Usha Stud, "won the race in great style, galloping resolutely in the final furlong to outclass her rivals convincingly. The on-money favorite caused no anxiety to her large number of supporters unleashing a powerful burst at the business end to run away from the field and notch up an impressive victory, looking the winner long way from home. Manifold, ably ridden by jockey David Probert, won Rs 30 lakhs besides a glittering trophy. Subsequently, at the Indian Derby in February 2018, Manifold came third.
Desai’s winning spree continued when his filly Oomph, co-owned with Khusrooh Dhunjibhoy, chairman of RWITC (Royal Western India Turf Club), was placed third in the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million (PBMM) (Juvenile Derby) on February 25. Corfe Castle, co-owned by Simone Poonawalla Pandole (who was also the breeder), M. Ramakrishna Reddy and Tinder Ahluwalia "won in glorious fashion by just over three lengths while Star Superior ended up a creditable second on just his second start while the filly Oomph also ran a terrific race and finished on down the inside to end up an honorable third” as related by Cyrus Naterwalla on www.rwitc.com. It was a cherished win for veteran Hyderabad trainer L. D’Silva and jockey P. Trevor.
Corfe Castle’s sister Ruffina, co-owned by Dr Cyrus, Adar and Natasha Poonawalla, and trained by Dallas Todywalla, won the PBMM(Grade 1). Corfe Castle and Ruffina are reportedly the only two siblings to have won the PBMM. Subsequntly Ruffina won the Sprinter’s Cup (Grade 1) in Calcutta in March 2018 and came third in the Indian 1000 Guineas (Grade 1).