Scenic Star led the field from the start, with Bank Balance racing a close third. Rajesh, who replaced the injured Aslam Kader on Arrakis, had his mount in the rear, behind the wall of horses. Inside the final 200 metres, Bank Balance was shaping like a winner as he was wearing out the challenge of Scenic Star but the finishing burst of Arrakis put paid to the hopes of the supporters of Bank Balance who were expecting their swell their balance. Calcutta challenger Fame Star, who went into the race with four straight wins to his credit, was outclassed.

Jaggy Dhariwal trained Aprilia, who had impressive credentials, was backed to the exclusion of her rivals in the 1200 metres Justice P Medappa Memorial Cup (Div II). The Don’t Forget Me progeny proved too speedy for her rivals, leading the field from the word `go’ and then stretching away from the rest. Magic Stride plodded on to be a faraway second ahead of a late-finishing Rumplestiltskin who moved from the rear to finish third at the expense of Jungle Cat. The upper division of the race saw Amber Dancer proving too good for the opposition. Hero Worship, with better fitness and stronger handling, could have made a difference to the outcome but in the end, was a creditable second ahead of Brora and Alisa. Hero Worship should recoup the losses next time out.

There was an alarming drift in the price of favourite Inxss in the betting ring in the Mauritius Pearl Plate, a race for lowest rated horses. However, the favourite duly obliged albeit thanks to a vigorous effort on the park of jockey Gallagher whose perseverence paid handsome dividends in the end. Top-weighted Hayate who had assumed control inside the final 250 metres, weakned close home, enabling the favourite to land the spoils.

While trainer Abdullah led in a winner through a horse, which went out of favour in the betting ring, the one, which saw the price tumbling, ran like a dud. Auric was backed to the exclusion of his rivals but the favourite was never in the hunt as jockey Srinath struggled to get going on the Abdullah ward. Lesser fancied Squeeze in the hands of jockey Appu, squeezed his way along the rails to land the spoils from Ivory Wings who would have been seen in better light with a slight step up in distance. Emerald Forest finished third ahead of the dead-heated pair of National star and Exstream. Make a note of National Star.

Jockey Srinath had earlier failed on another public fancy Star Wings (Diablo Plate Div II) where lesser fancied Red Angel going clear of the field inside the final 300 metres to win as she liked from the favourite. Furia Rossa missed the runner-up spot by a whisker. In the upper division of the race, jockey Shakti Singh’s power packed finish enabled favourite Ride With Pride to get the better of front-running Kisunugntly and the late-finishing Star Liner. A mere neck separated the first three placed horses.

Earlier in the day, Shakti Singh had ridden out C A Kuts trained Persian Belle to a resolute victory over a late-finishing Tal. There was a flood of money on Ooty import Grand Illusion and the filly lived up to her name.