Solid Black (Senure–Festival Flame) a 'solid' looking dark bay, owned by Mr. RL Agarwal and trained by Robert D' Mellow, put in a terrific gallop in the home stretch and built up a good lead past the distance post. This came in handy and he held on well towards the finish to easily ward off Liquidator. Racing in the mid-bunch soon on settling down, Solid Black (Aadesh) sprang forward to take charge at the top of the straight and made a dash for the winning post. Caught unawares, Liquidator and Congrats had to hurry. While the former got closer when it was all over, Congrats, the 5/4 favourite just could not measure up and even lost out on the place money to the fast finishing Equality. Liquidator will improve from this run and is worth noting down while the same cannot be said about Congrats. Congrats' performance left a lot to be desired and the filly did not live up to her pre-race expectations. Equality did cover a lot of ground in the straight despite having to skirt around horses and having to make his bid on the wide outside.
Vijay Shirke owned dark bay gelding, Pacemaker (Diffident–Zografi) won the only way he knows win – start to finish! Pure For Sure was alert at the start and was soon joined by Pacemaker. Fire God was a bit slowly off but ended well to figure in the frame. Nectar Jewel, the popular fancy was in close fourth till the straight and despite going all out failed to catch up with Pacemaker (Riyaz), I would put it, due to chunks of weight that he was giving the winner. Now, Red Dawn had valid reasons not to have cashed in, as he faltered between 800 and 600 m shifting erratically out and losing crucial ground in a fast run race. He did come in with a fiery blast towards the end and appeared to catch up, only the winning post came too soon for him. Red Dawn is the one you need to watch out for particularly over a sprint. A furlong more would be ideal. Star Girl and Pure For Sure fettered away a good opportunity after being prominent initially, but could not come up within anything worth mentioning. Red Dawn is the one to remember.
There were two keenly awaited "jodies" in the day - Raghuvansh and Feet Of Flames, and Spiritual and Our Excellencee, in the third and sixth races respectively. Both finished 1 and 2 in their respective races. Raghuvansh (Royal Kingdom–Sarmatara) was an impressive winner in the So Smitten Plate – Div II. The Nanda owned filly got straight down to business and led the field from the start. Feet Of Flames, also meaning business, sat right on the tail of the leader. As they entered the straight, Raghuvansh (Fargeat) clearly looked superior the way he was moving on a tight rein. Past the distance post the Arti Doctor ward increased her lead a wee bit, but Feet Of Flames never fell back and kept persevering. Raghuvansh prevailed convincingly but the runner up was not totally outclassed. I would love to see another duel between the two. Others were a good 81/2 length behind.
Our Excellencee (Placerville–Pleasure Hunt), lived up to her expectations and came into her own. It was probably the loss to Wild Temper in her only outing in Mumbai that Poonawallas' horse owned jointly with Dr. MAM and Capt Appoo was given the 'second in demand' status after Spirituall. Spiritual definitely commanded the favouritism after her brilliant showing in Mumbai. However, the Shroff trainee had not reckoned the improvement registered by Our Excellencee. The Imtiaz trainee, who had W. Smith for assistance, dictated the terms all through the race and got only better towards the finish. Spirituall, who was fifth initially improved to be in the vicinity of the leader at the turn, found the winner too good and ended second. Oyster Princess improved to account for the rest and claim place money, ending on the haunches of the favorite. Our Excellencee is to be persisted with and Spirituall too will pick up a race or two this season.
Cameo (Major Impact–Lovely Fantasy), the favourite at 'unbettable' odds, did stop a few hearts before he unleashed a gallant gallop in the last 100 m to put paid all fears of a major upset. Elementto Style, who led all the way into the straight, increased her lead to about 3 lengths and when spectators saw jockey Rajendra off the bridle even as they began to turn, hearts must have been pounding. Past the distance post, Elementto Style was still comfortably in front and that's when Cameo started warming up. With a 100 to go, Cameo swooped past the leader and to the relief of his connections breezed past Elementto Style to post a pulsating victory. Elementto Style did well to hold on to the runner's up berth while an all out Itsracingafterall seemed frantic to take the third spot.
Earlier in the day, Golden Orra yet again failed to oblige her followers and went down tamely after holding on her own till into the straight. However, when she was expected to accelerate further, Golden Orra couldn't do much. In fact, Lightening Cavalry (Storm Trooper–Kojagiri) easily passed the favourite and a confident Malesh didn't even have to press for the pedal. Without much use of the whip hand, the Jodha trained gelding made light work of the small field and won comfortably.
The last race betting resolved around Global Spirit and boy, did she oblige! The Juniper–Sahara Street filly ridden by Appu, settled just behind the leader Katania. In the straight, Global Spirit wasted no time and soon loomed large on Katania and easily managed to keep the rest at bay. Katania struggled to keep her place and in the closing stages surrendered the runner's up slot to Fidel Defensor who caught the eye. Solskjear ended a close fourth.