Subhag Singh ward, Paris Hilton (CS Jodha) sprung a surprise as she struck form to clinch the Trainers’ Trophy beating a speedy bunch with relative ease. Disputing the early lead with Rave On (Kishore), Paris Hilton surged ahead as they turned for home and accelerated further away. Such was her authority that she won comfortably despite drifting out alarmingly in the last furlong. Xiamen, who normally hits the front on start, was not up to it and paid the price by finishing off the frame. Needforspeed, whose odds drifted tremendously, was nowhere in the picture.

As they jumped off, Rave On and Naseebdar fought for the early initiative with Paris Hilton in a hurry along the rails. Rave On and Paris Hilton then tracked each other till the turn where from the latter simply shifted gear and raced away. Rave On toiled hard to keep up but could not even take the advantage of Paris Hilton’s considerable drift. Cabinda (Appu) made a late dash and covered substantial ground to peg back Rave On for the runner up berth. Gypsy Queen too came from a long way back to clinch a slot in the frame. Paris Hilton’s graph of performance this season was on a down slide, however, trainer Subhag Singh brought about a terrific change in her fortunes to end her campaign on a high note. It would be another challenge for the trainer to have her retain her form for Pune which is a long way off. The way she won on Saturday, she looked in solid nick. Cabinda & Gypsy Queen also caught the eye.

All eyes were on Ekhabinskya (Placerville – Moving Image) in the next race. The Faisal Abbas trained bay filly was the talk of the course and the hype created following her impressive track work was mind boggling. The filly was backed very heavily in the ring so much so that another debutant who also showed out in the morning track work was completely ignored. Antonios (Glory Of Dancer – Twin Star) had the odds drifting on him to a nourishing 5/1 at race time.

Ekhabinskya delighted his followers quickly on start and for all of a minute from there on. However, to the horror of her backers, she faltered miserably at the business end. In contrast, Antonios was sluggish at the start and made jockey SN Chavan work overtime to keep her from falling back. He even gave her a tight reminder even before the turn to remain interested. Nevertheless, the bay colt from veteran SS Shah’s yard warmed up nicely nearing the distance post and quickened timely to dish out a scintillating run which left the only two in contention breathless. Yankee Lane (PS Chouhan) was the other prominent runner who found it easy to beat the favourite but Antonios was just too fast. Antonios finished full of steam indicating that he can stay longer as well. Yankee Lane has room to improve and will do well. Ekhabinskya is a puzzle. The filly showed out in the early stages extremely well and why she did not quicken as expected is a mystery. I guess it would be too early to comment at this stage and the filly needs to be given another chance.

The day started with a cracker of a finish. Tigress Noire showed that her conquest over the highly rated Raquel was not a fluke. The Todywalla trainee went ahead soon on start and was hard ridden particularly in the final moments of a thrilling finish. Entering the straight with a slender lead Tigress Noire was always under threat from Ruby Rocket (Appu) who is right up close. Past the 400 metres, Tigress Noire was being asked to quicken and Ruby Rocket seemed to be initiating a strong fight. Between the two Tigress Noire looked better but when Call To Arms gathered momentum, with just about 100 metres to go, Tigress Noire looked vulnerable and was lucky to get the close verdict in her favour. Call To Arms made a tremendous final assault which was a split second too late. It was a victory by a whisker and all credit to jockey PS Chouhan for a brilliant ride. He got every ounce out the bay filly owned by the Bois De Boulogne Syndicate to win in a breathtaking finish.

Algo Mas duly kept her date with victory. Kishore Kadam coming back from his suspension showed that he did not lose any sheen and compiled a clinical execution of a race battle. Settling right behind Blazing Speed early on, Algo Mas moved up soon on straightening up. The Rehanullah Khan filly easily sped past Blazing Speed who never allowed anyone else to pass him. Algo Mas stamped his superiority in no uncertain terms and marched ahead without fuss. Kishore was composed right through the first half of the home stretch but in the final 100 metres in his excitement handed the filly a couple of reminders and Algo Mas reacted by being a touch erratic in the final few strides and shifting out just that little bit. However, she was a good 3-4 length clear and that bit of whipping was uncalled for. Blazing Speed kicked on to be a good second and despite trying hard Fire God had to be content with the third spot.

It was race no. 333 and the omens were spot on for Horse no. 3, would be the prophecy of the superstitious. There are plenty of them in any race course anyway. Horse no. 3 was Sentinel and boy did he prove the soothsayers right! Sentinel settled in the auspicious ‘third’ position as well, and as they turned for home, jockey Rajendra judged his charge’s potential perfectly and did not wait too long. Snow Blind, who drifted in the betting, faded away into oblivion from the prominent second spot no sooner the race reached the crucial stage and ended in the rut with only Dutch Art behind him. Past the 400 metres, El Bunduq  (Appu) was stubbornly refusing to surrender the lead but Sentinel forced himself forward after a brief tussle. A good 5 length further behind Star Impact was warming up and commentator Deepak did well to spot the challenge brewing early. With a furlong left to go, Sentinel under the hard riding of the Champion jockey was galloping on and managed to ward off the late finishing Star Impact (Aadesh), who may rue that too much was left to do too late.

Trainer Hormuz Antia has done exceptionally well considering the string of horses in his charge. He managed to have the nine year old gelding The Brave Heart live up to his name and register a thrilling victory over much younger rivals. The consistency with which the shy trainer has done so this season is matchless. The Brave Heart walloped the opposition end to end. There was a brief fight put up by Tearaway (Appu) first, midway up the straight and then came the late challenge from Arabian Pride (Shaikh). The oldest in the bunch showed stoic defiance and held on grimly to come off a fighting winner. Arabian Pride once again failed narrowly to pip the leader although his margin was even shorter in his last start against Ring Bearer.

Simply Perfect (Chouhan) failed to rise to the occasion and was never prominent. He was struggling all through and never raised any hopes at any stage saving any destructive blood pleasure fluctuations for his backers. Mercedes had shown a hint of form in her last outing which she aptly translated into a well deserved victory. She pounced on the fighting duo – Up North and Mubarras and passed them easily. Binee was the one who came from a long way back to peg back the duo and claim the runner up slot.

Jockey CS Jodha was the lone professional to score a double.