As many as five professionals--three horse trainers and two jockeys--celebrated their Christmas in style at the Pune racecourse by scoring a double each. The three schoolers were veteran Narendra Lagad, the hard-working Shiraz Sunderji and young Karthik Ganapathy; while the two jockeys who matched their feat were A Sandesh, the usual suspect, and an humble T S Jodha who hasn't hit headlines in years, or perhaps decades, on the western India racing circuit.

The last-named rode a back to back double which included the day's supporting event, the Conrad Pereira Trophy, named after the man who had put in long years of distinguished service, officiating as judge for the races. T S Jodha drove the Himmat Singh-trained Sandalphon to an effortless victory, replicating the same feat he had accomplished with the same horse on the opening day of the season a month ago.