ON May 31st, Punita Arora celebrated her 74th birthday. On Monday, at Naas, Punita Arora (Sepoy) celebrated her first win in a stakes race.

The human Punita Arora was the first woman in India to reach the second highest military rank, that of Lieutenant General of the Indian Armed Forces. She was also the first woman Vice Admiral of the Indian Navy. Born in Lahore and brought up in Punjab, she was commissioned in January 1968.

Before becoming Vice Admiral of the Indian Navy she was Commandant of Armed Forces Medical College, making her the first woman officer to head that institution.

Last December, the equine Punita Arora was sent to the sales in Newmarket, returning to Jessica Harrington’s Commonstown stables when she was unsold at 180,000gns. At the time she had won a maiden at Navan, returned to the Co Meath track to run second in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Premier Nursery, and made one start on the all-weather at Dundalk, finishing third in the Listed EBF Stat Appeal Stakes.

Her seasonal debut this year was again at Dundalk where she failed to fire, but she left that well behind her at Naas where she captured the Listed Kuroshio at Compas Stallions Committed Stakes over five and a half furlongs. Hopefully she can build on this success.

She is the second foal from her Pivotal (Polar Falcon) dam Wojha who was bred by Shadwell and won over a mile at Leicester in the colours of Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. She was then retired to the breeding shed.

Wojha’s first foal has taken an unusual racing route for a horse with his pedigree. The four-year-old Fearless Friend (Nayef) has made one start to date in 2020, falling when travelling well in a maiden point-to-point! Punita Arora is her second produce. Sold as a yearling for 41,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale to BBA Ireland, Punita Arora then joined Jessica Harrington. Just before that sale, her dam Wojha was also sold, through Derrinstown Stud, for €50,000 to Yeomanstown Stud. The foal she was carrying, Blowing Wind (Markaz), in in training with Michael Dods, and she has a yearling filly by Gutaifan (Dark Angel).

Wojha is one of seven winners from Hureya (Woodman) who, like her daughter, won over a mile in England when trained by John Dunlop. The best of the rest was the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes winner Muthabara (Red Ransom). This is a family that has been cultivated by Sheikh Hamdan for years and traces back to Wasnah (Nijinsky), the dam of Europe’s champion miler in 1985, Bahri (Riverman).

Punita Arora inherits her speed from her sire, Sepoy (Elusive Quality). The Darley Australia stallion last stood at Dalham Hall in 2017. In the southern hemisphere his best runner is the triple Group 1 winning filly Alizee, while the Hugo Palmer-trained Group 2 German 1000 Guineas winner Unforgetable Filly has flown the flag in the northern hemisphere, along with the Group 3 winners Indian Blessing and Dabyah, both of whom were Group 1-placed. .

It is fair to say he has proven to be a much better sire of fillies than colts. Punita Arora is his 17th stakes winner, a dozen of which are fillies. Champion at two and three in Australia, Sepoy won four Group 1 races and was rated the best sprinter in the world at three.