Having done nothing worthwhile in his last two outings this season, Royal Secret produced an astounding gallop on Tuesday to deliver a knockout punch to the followers of form. Aprilia and Aspiring Star led all the way till the former was successful in wresting the initiative about two furlongs from home. Pesi Shroff stepped the gas on Aprilia as the winning post came into sight but was soon swept aside by the whirlwind run of Royal Secret. Apprentice Yoginder Singh earned his first career success in the process. Coming out from draw thirteen, top-weighted Special Happening did well to end a creditable third ahead of Natural Grace. Silver Blue was out for an airing and should be making news shortly.

Cut to Grand Gesture’s failure. Ironically, it was Saphire Princess who won this race from late-finishing Ambition with the favourite never raising any hopes of obliging. The owners of both Grand Gesture and Saphire Princess had complained to the stewards of not being satisfied with the efforts of Mandeep Mann and Aadesh Kumar on their mounts respectively. Though Aadesh Kumar got way with the benefit of the doubt, Mandeep Mann was sent packing till the end of the season. Horses have time and again proved the human species wrong and this was probably just one glaring example of the equine trait. 

The unnecessary tendency on the part of apprentice J. Chinoy to do something special astride Safari Girl led to the downfall of the Jaggy Dhariwal-trained filly in the opening event. Finding Resist as the only horse to tackle, Dhariwal decided to claim the 5kg allowance of Chinoy and declared him once again to ride the daughter of Razeen out of Parfait Amour. 

Chinoy committed the cardinal sin of trying to settle the filly against her wishes as Prince of Fashion hit the front. His second blunder was not taking charge of running halfway through the derby trip. He even let Prince of Fashion build up a sizeable at the final turn, which was of no consequence but rather it allowed B. Prakash atop Resist to bridge the gap and range alongside Safari Girl. The bay mare shot into the lead but Resist was soon breathing down her neck. The rookie rider was could not match the powerful finishing efforts of Prakash and ultimately conceded defeat. A similar error of judgement may have prevented Aureus from giving winner Victory March the run for her money last Sunday. The young apprentice should count his blessings for having Jaggy Dhariwal as his mentor and try to learn from his mistakes if he nurtures any ambitions of making it big.

Adolfito and Self Styled accomplished what Safari Girl and Aprilia could not for Dhariwal. The former dropped back behind leaders Palentino, Twin Star and The Avenger in the early part of the race. As the field turned for home, C. Rajendra-ridden Twin Star took charge of the running with The Avenger in hot pursuit. Even as it appeared to be a two-horse race, Pesi Shroff shook Adolfito with some purpose and got his mount to wake up from deep slumber. It was plain sailing once the son of Tejano found his rhythm. Twin Star relinquished the runner-up berth in favour of The Avenger with Singita coming with a long-stretched run to fill the frame. 

A not-on-job rumour that made rounds of the Mahalaxmi lawns during the day led to the odds of the well-bred Self Styled going astray in the last race of the day. A large chunk of the supporters of Self Styled were driven away as the odds moved in the wrong direction. However, the dicky-legged son of Placerville owned by Dr Vijay Mallya came with raking strides to down the colours of L. A. Woman close home.

Auchinblae, the shortest priced runner of the day, hit the wire just in time to survive a major scare from runner-up Prabhuti. The son of Razeen saddled by Bezan Chenoy made the entire running in the hands of Niall McCullagh but unlike his previous run shortened his strides albeit the distance being a furlong less on this occasion. 

Taking off quickly from the barriers, Spirited Move with Rajeev Pandey in saddle kicked on gamely to earn her maiden success. Favourite Newyearseve ran a pathetic race and requires some more tuning. Saving her best for some other day, California Gold retired after being prominent in the front group.

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