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Suraj had won the earlier race with Pujar's The Force. Here again, the favourite Gershwin ran below expectations. Jockey Gnaneshwar was caught in a huddle and was unable to ride him effectively. Suraj was able to hold The Force in mid-division and bring him with an unhindered run in the closing stages of this race. Demanding, Super Sha, Gershwin and Cafe Coffee came charging down the home straight to finish within a length of each other. The unluckiest amongst them was Cafe Coffee. He was stuck in a traffic jam till the last hundred metres, and by the time Merchant could pull him out, the race was over.
Another hot favourite to bite the dust was Amatol. The aged horse was making an effort to complete a hat-trick of victories. Jockey Imran Chisty had been summoned from Western India to ride him. His last two wins had been facile in nature, but what punters happened to forget was the penalties that he had received while scoring them. Amatol was totally at sea while racing in Class III. He was unable to match strides with the others and made Imran Chisty look like a novice. Copenhagen did his customary front running and lasted out to canter away from Mr Bureaucrat and a late finishing Alejandros.
However, Darashah and Gnaneshwar were the only professionals to score more than once today. Easy Rider and Artic Princess were the two winners from the stable. Easy Rider accounted for on-money favourite Red Dawn, and succeeded in maintaining his early stranglehold on this race. He bounded out of the wide outside draw, before making every post a winning one. Here again, there was a case of bad luck. Place Her Well came with giant strides on the wide outside to lose in a three way finish. Apprentice Vijay was unable to find galloping room from the inside draw and had to wait before producing Place Her Well on the centre of the track. Despite the feeble handling, she flew at the end and almost won the race. The double was completed with Artic Princess. She was lucky to get a nice opening on the rails and used it effectively by poking through to win in a close finish from Zooming. The early leader Victory Queen slowed down to take the third spot. Gnaneshwar's decision to bide his time on the rails with her proved to be productive.
The day commenced with a couple of races for horses in the lowest class. Rakesh trained Record Time had failed in her efforts to win a race in recent times. The decision to entrust her to Harish turned out to be perfect. The strong rider brought her with a late burst to get the better of a runaway Draupadi. Opera Princess found the trip a trifle short as she finished strongly from the rear to nose out Much More from the third place. The last named may win over seven furlongs later in the season.
The only other race in the day's card was won on the last stride by Bastian Bay. Apprentice Khurshad held him back behind the pair of Alinski and Pal Joey before coming through the middle of the pack. Bastian Bay responded gamely to get the measure of the leader. This horse, who has been recently relocated to Mysore, has the abilities to defy the handicapper and win again for the asking. Sandokan was the best of the rest, as he came with a late bid to go past a tired Pal Joey.
