Juliette keeps her tryst with destiny in the Invitation Cup

Cosmic Ray does a repeat act in style in the Super Mile

Juliette, the got abroad daughter of Musketier out of Givemesumsugar, kept her date all right on Sunday. No there were no Romeos around, but at stake was the Chettinad Indian Turf Invitation Cup. A race in which she’d played bridesmaid twice before.

Owned by the M.A.M. Ramaswamy of Chettiar Charitable Trust and sporting the legendary Gold and brown belt silks, Juliette romped home to win convincingly. Trained by Karthik Ganapathy, ridden with aplomb by C.S. Jodha, the 6-year-old mare, who is bred at the Sohna Stud, gave her breeder Mr. Sultan Singh his third Invitation victory in four years.

The Major P.K. Mehra Memorial Super Mile was billed a clash of the fairer sex. Cosmic Ray and Forest Flame, both from the stable of Sulaiman Attaohlahi, were the rage of the betting and from the top of the straight it became a battle between the pair. In the end, Cosmic Ray, who always appeared to be travelling the better of the two, kicked clear, leaving Forest Flame to be content with the runner-up prize.

Cosmic Ray, a daughter of Burden Of Proof out of Corsican Girl, was ridden by jockey P. Trevor and sported the colours of United Racing And Bloodstock Breeders Pvt. Ltd. Bred at the Kunigal Stud, she becomes the first horse in the history of the Super Mile to win this Grade 1 affair back-to-back.

The results:

1. WIN NEWS MILLION (1,200m), rated 60 to 85: THE SOVEREIGN ORB (Suraj Narredu) 1, Columbian (P.S. Chouhan) 2, Lagos (Akshay Kumar) 3, Judy Blue Eyes (Zervan) 4. 2-1/4, 1 and 2-3/4. 1m, 12.04s. Owners: M/s. Poonawalla Racing & Breeding rep. by Mr. Zavaray S. Poonawalla & Mrs. Behroze Z. Poonawala. Trainer: S. Attaollahi.

2. HOOVES OF STEEL SUMANGALA TMT MILLION (1,600m), rated 60 to 85: NEW LOOK (Gaurav Singh) 1, Mr Kool (T.S. Jodha) 2, Stockbridge (Antony Raj) 3 and Chashni (S. John) 4. Not run: Gallantry. 2, nose and 3. 1m, 39.36s. Owner: Mr. Digvijay Singh Shekhawat. Trainer: Ravinder Singh.