Enceladus

The two Jaydev owned horses Monopoly and Enceladus hit the front going at a decent clip, closely followed by Angels Glory and Oyster Pearl. The rest made little impact on the quartet although they were running close enough to do so.
 
Monopoly brought the field homeward but midway through the straight, Enceladus put in a sustained gallop to surge past the leader. Oyster Pearl came up under some hard handling by Srinath and did make his presence felt. However, Enceladus was too good on the day and kicked on to post an impressive encore. Angels Glory warmed up late and could only manage to peg back Monopoly for the place money. Angels Glory may have needed this run and one will give up on her at his own peril. She should strip fitter after this run and looks battle ready after this run behind her. Dashrath Singh, after Enceladus (Black Cash - Selerina’s Song) went on to score again in the next race to post a lucrative double.

The victory for Dashrath Singh atop Nara was hard earned. Nara was sluggish at the start and Dashrath had to work to keep the mare focused on the task at hand. Trainer Nirad Karanjawalla has done a remarkable job in getting Nara in the fighting fit condition. The mare had the reputation of being very slack and as the story goes, it was hard even to get some worthwhile work out of her during the morning trials. She was troublesome at the gates as well. Nara, however, was a different proposition on the day, particularly at the business end of the race, and due credit for this transformation ought to go to her master Nirad Karanjawalla and to an extent, the rider Dashrath Singh.

Nara (Black Cash – Blue Water), last of twelve in a closely huddled bunch, put in a truly determined gallop to storm past the fighting front bunch comprising Saarah, Es Sider, Magical Mantra and Starlite Express. Nara came on the wide outside to make remarkable progress in the last furlong to storm past the leaders and register an impressive victory. Starlite Express too ran a good race to end a notable runner up.

M/s Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Prem Tharani’s youngsters, Sea Value and Sea Star ran to brilliant victories in their respective races. Sea Value (China Visit – Allosaki) won the Potential Champion Trophy, an important race for unraced horses. During the stalling operations, Blazing Spectacle reared up and jockey B Prakash got injured on his ankle, thus rendering the Karthik ward a non starter.

Aberdovey went past Sea Value at the 800 and led the field homewards. While Appu had Sea Value on a tight rein, Frangrances was pushed to keep pace. Into the straight, Sea Value bounded forward with fiery speed and shot out of reach in no time. Even before the distance post, it was clear that the others were only running on for minor placing. Sea Value bolted in a convincing and an impressive winner on debut. Alize improved a couple of places to run second. El Tropico was a bit erratic but still managed to grab the third place by dishing out an eye-catching finish.

Sea Star (Maria’s Mon – Chanteline) won the Lufthansa August Handicap in a splendid start to finish fashion. Leading comfortably until the straight, Sea Star warmed up nicely to stay well ahead and won untroubled beating a formidable rival in Harmonica. Harmonica tried her best to catch up but could not even narrow the lead. Both Sea Star and Sea Value look capable of an encore. Sea Star, it might be interesting to note, was the odd one out for the days races as all the other seven races were won by the feminine gender.

Tsesebe (Indictment – Estonia) and Tromos were engaged in a grim battle which as close as it can get. Both Notable Runner and Swahili led early on but packed up too early in the straight. Tromos went smoothly in front at the turn and shaped well until Tsesebe came with a challenge with 300 to go. Tsesebe seemed traveling better as she surged past Tromos. It looked like Tsesebe would now sail away for a facile win, but Tromos was not done yet. He produced a sensational come back and was very unlucky not to have extracted a victory form the jaws of defeat. He re ran with a purpose and was distinctly unlucky to encounter the winning post a stride too early.

La Joie De Vie (Diffident – La Joya) had to battle every inch of the entire stretch to post a very narrow victory over Paper King. The battle began much before the turn and only got hotter within the straight. Paper King enjoyed a slender advantage and when La Joie De Vie threw in a challenge a stiff battle erupted. The two were stuck together, fighting stride for stride and the bob of the head saw the Naren trainee nose out Paper King by a short head. Slickkit managed to earn the place money ahead of Solid Rock.

The start of the day was horrific for the backers of favorite Step By Step who was slowly off and never recovered. Alaska showed good early speed to stretch out well in the straight to register a facile victory. Molto Bella who was in the front alongside Alaska (Warrshan – Taj Mahal) could not reproduce her last run form and even lost the chance to emerge second best, conceding to Shabdeez in the final stages of the race. Step By Step ended a poor fourth.

For the professionals, trainer CD Katrak and jockey Dashrath Singh scored a double each.