THE S. A. POONAWALLA MULTI-MILLION (GR.III)
In the memory of Soli Poonawalla, for his lifelong contribution to the Indian racing and breeding, the RWITC after his demise, instituted the “S. A. Poonawalla Trophy” in the year 1982. The first running of this race was won by dark bay filly “CARTIER” owned by M/s. Cyrus S. Poonawalla, Zavaray S. Poonawalla and Solomon S. Sopher, trained by Uttam Singh and ridden by Jockey Aslam Khader. The winner’s purse was Rs.56,910.75/-.
In the year 1986, the S. A. Poonawalla Trophy got Grade 3 status which was won by bay colt “DEDICATION” owned by Mr. J. P. Goenka, trained by Imtiaz A. Sait and ridden by Jockey A. Barclay. The winner took home Rs.67,369.50/- and a trophy which was valued at Rs.6,000/-.
In the year 1990, this race was upgraded to Grade 2 and was called “The Poonawalla Cup”, only for that year. It was won by a filly called “CHARI VARI” owned by Mr. & Mrs. A. Rashid, trained by Bezan Chenoy and ridden by Jockey S. N. Chavan. The winner’s purse was Rs.93,684/-.
In the year 1996 it became a guaranteed Million race. This saw the new beginning of “Million” concept and made this race one of the richest races in the Pune racing calendar and this also determined the “top juvenile” in the country. This race has always attracted huge crowds flocking to the race course. People from all walks of life enjoy racing and glamour which goes hand in glove with abundant prizes and making it the event most looked forward to in the Pune racing calendar.
In 2015 it was reclassified to Gr.III, after the Indian Pattern Committee decided to implement the National Pyramid from the pattern 2014/2015 starting from 1st November 2014.
