The prestigious Breeders’ Produce Stakes (Gr-3) saw an extended fight, which ended in the steward’s room. Sugar Ray (Hayes) set the tone sharing the lead with Pallazzio’s Sun (Dettori) in a fast run gallop, and Nora (Appu) close hounded the pair. In fact, the whole bunch was closely huddled from end to end. Autonomy too, this time was well up with the pace. Star Wave(O Donoghue) was towards the rear while Set Alight (Rajendra) was in the mid-bunch. As they turned for home, Nora barely put her nose on front, when Pallazzio’s Sun came along to take charge. Meanwhile, Autonomy warmed up and came on the scene. Set Alight (Razeen – Set Aside) had just then begun to wriggle out of a tight spot and Autonomy at that juncture shifted in resulting in Set Alight getting a bad interference and got squeezed between the two. Rajendra apparently had to check his mount. Set Alight did well to re-run and chase Autonomy, who by then had a clear lead over the rest. Set Alight all but collared Autonomy as the passed the winning post.

The judge had given a head-verdict in favour of Autonomy and even as his connections were rejoicing, Rajendra took the battle to the stewards’ room objecting to the incident at 300 metres caused by Richard Hughes. The stewards after due deliberations rightly upheld the objection and awarded the race to Set Alight. Star Wave could not reproduce her fiery last start dash for home and ended ½ L shy of Pallazzio’s Sun.

The United Spirits Challenge had five runners going over the 2000 metres trip. The top weighted Kingdom Of Love (Hayes) justified the favouritism and won toying with the field. Adrenaline Rush led the field most of the way with the favourite in second, Flashing Flame (Chinoy), Spiritual Flame and Fredericia followed close behind. Hayes was unperturbed even as the others passed him near 800 metres and fell back as they entered the straight. Hayes still held Kingdom Of Love and only opened him well past the 400 metres. The Imtiaz Sait gelding simply surged forward and won without fuss by a decent margin. Kingdom Of Love is improving with every run and achieved a well-deserved hat-trick this season, promising of adding more to his tally.

The Signature-Success is Good Fun Trophy had eight going to the post. Wahy (Chavan) cornered most of the betting and Asclepieion was next in demand. Morpheus made the running with Wahy in close touch all through. In the straight, Wahy was prominent and went ahead but could not sustain. At the distance post Fantasy Lake (Grant), Secret Pilgrim (Narredu) and Asclepieion (Fargeat) closed in and Fantasy Lake traveled the best of all to land the spoils.

The Zinzi – Find any Reason Trophy was fought for by eight contenders itching to earn the winning bracket. Bourbon Queen (Dettori) and Gleaming Sky (O Donoghue) were the joint favourites. Star Adventure brought the field home and soon surrendered to Adios Nikolaos (Narredu), who surged ahead and looked like making a race of it. The bay colt went clear but nearing the distance post found the challenge from Gleaming Sky to hot to handle. O’Donoghue, finished on powerfully to win more comfortably then the ¾ Length verdict would suggest. Sentinel out paced Bourbon Queen to finish third.

Enceladus once again disappointed a large following in the Black Dog 12 Year Old Deluxe Trophy.  Pampered Princess went at it at a cracking pace; followed by Schubert (Rajendra) Oyster Pearl (Nirmal) was well in touch. Enceladus (Hughes) was another 2 length adrift. Pampered Princess was easily accounted for by Oyster Princess, who put in a scintillating run to runaway from a decent bunch of sprinters. Oyster Pearl was very impressive and easily held the fast finishing Enceladus despite being a bit erratic and drifting in and out in the final stages of the race. Schubert received a slight check in the straight but that would be inconsequent in the light of the manner in which Oyster Pearl dished out a sound beating to his rivals.

A large field of 19 faced the starter for the Black Dog 8 Year Old Centenary Cup. Appreciate (Akash Agarwal) hit the front and established a handy 4 length lead in the straight, which held him in good stead. Walking Tall and Terre Blanche had all the chance in the world but could not make it count. Raquel (Rajendra) made a bold attempt but the winning post came a bit too early for her. However, War of Attrition (Grant) caught the eye. The bay gelding had a rough passage all through, and was badly positioned in the straight. It is to the credit of jockey Daniel grant that he manoeuvred his way through a wall of horses and managed to finish alongside the winner. War Of Attrition and Raquel were unlucky and both need to be persuaded with.

The Young President’s Organisation Trophy was the first assignment for the Chinoy ward Vale Of Leven. Her victory on debut seemed to be a foregone conclusion going by the pulse in the betting ring. Quoted at a miserly 6 /10 on, the China Visit -Al Dente filly stood up well to the challenge thrown by Premier Queen (Narredu). Sitting a handy second till the straight, Vale Of Leven (Hughes) moved smoothly into the lead and when Premier Queen came alongside, she surged ahead and had a length to spare at the finish. Sangoma (Hayes) found himself in the rear and had a closely clustered field ahead. Hayes had to skirt around horses and get going midway up the straight and Sangoma ran on to finish closing in on the winner. Vale Of Leven should win again and keep an eye on Sangoma.

Vijayi Bhava came alive finally today and won at lucrative odds. Clean Sweep brought the field home and held on till the distance post. Vijay Bhava charged forward and took over at that stage and sprinted ahead nicely. Bridge Too Far (Ashish) came late on the scene along with Ring Bearer and neither could get closer than a length and a quarter to Vijayi Bhava.  Clean Sweep and Rising Emperor finished on close behind.

Desert Sky won the Royal Challenge Game for Life Challenge with a fair measure of comfort. Leading from early on, Desert Sky (Chavan) held sway all through and got even better in the straight to increase the margin. The Manglorkar schooled filly readily bounded forward and looked a winner long way from home. Multicultural (O Donoghue) who like last time was kept well back could not reproduce that blazing finish and ended a tame fourth. Kai (Hayes) who was second through out finished so and Toofan Mail (Nirmal) did well to land the place money.

For one who came to witness the McDowell Indian Derby weekend Aruna Bhandary, who comes from a family of serious racing enthusiasts it was a memorable day as the lady from Bangalore won the Maruti Suzuki Swift Car for successfully nominating the winners of the selected races. Her husband Vijeth Bhandary owns horses and brother Prithviraj is a trainer in Bangalore.

Trainer Narendra Lagad punched home a lucrative double. Pesi Shroff’s Set Alight was impressive and is shaping up well to be right in the reckoning in the Poonawalla Breeder’s Multi-Million (Gr -1 ) later this month.