Trevor gathered him and was about to angle out for a clear run in an all-out effort, but just then a gap developed on the inner rails as Knotty Ash put up a stiff fight with Desperado and Excellent
Jockey Trevor Patel's superlative riding skill gained the day for three-year-old colt Pioneer, who produced an incredible gallop in the final 100m of the 2000-meter trip of the grade 1, Pune Derby. The Phoenix Tower-Riyasat colt, owned by Jaydev Modi, Shapoor Mistry and Ram Shroff, and trained by Malesh Narredu, bagged the winner's purse of R24 lakh and a glittering trophy at the Pune racetrack yesterday.
Patel initially settled Pioneer in fourth or fifth position in a seven-horse field, kept his cool when the pace heated up and even the two horses racing behind him —Truly Epic and Bushtops —overtook him turning for home. All seemed lost for Pioneer, who seemed to be going backward with only two furlongs to go. Trevor gathered him and was about to angle out for a clear run in an all-out effort, but just then a gap developed on the inner rails as Knotty Ash put up a stiff fight with Desperado and Excellent.
Trevor changed plans in a micro-second and went for the gap. It was an unbelievable combination of extraordinary human will and raw animal instinct that it almost looked surreal, and the three challengers in the foreground were dwarfed by the performance of Trevor and Pioneer, who sneaked ahead at the wire to win a photo verdict from Knotty Ash and Desperado. Narredu, who saddled Pioneer, has also won this race six times as jockey.
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