The breezy pace set by this bay colt by Don’t Forget Me out of Beautiful Ballad made Prince Valiant pay a heavy price for chasing him. The son of Green Forest faded into oblivion shortly after raising false hopes of collaring the winner. Rosmini took the shortest way home and wrest the lead that lasted not more than a fraction of a second. Chris Lemaire’s fervour astride Blushing Minstrel paled the efforts of Niall McCullagh aboard Rosmini. Dallas had another juvenile winner in River Rainbow (Always A Rainbow-Albufeira) who was powered by B. Prakash to survive the onslaught of Verzanno.
Aslam Kader was bidding for a hat-trick when going out on Prince Valiant. He earlier won the Governor’s Trophy with Seychelles and followed it up with a maiden victory for Kissimmee, both winners trained by Bezan Chenoy. Aslam chose to bide his time astride Seychelles in the rear as Crystal Sky bowled along merrily in front. He saved the flashy-looking daughter of Malvado till the last furlong or so and came with a piercing run down the centre of the track. At this juncture, the piping-hot favourite Mille Fiori strayed from a straight course, directing all public-money towards the drain. Crystal Sky like her partner, the boxer-turned-jockey Francis Norton, fought till the last round. But Aslam Kader’s powerful finish kayoed him.
Kissimmee too was required to cover a lot of ground as Attia In Sunlight shone out in front. No doubt that the daughter of Broto out of Ruddles took her own sweet time to get into her rhythm. But once she succeeded in doing so, she was literally flying. Clever Talk stretched out to grab the runner-up berth from Attia In Sunlight. An encore is surely in the offing from Kissimmee.
Catch-me-if-you-can said bottom-weighted Avantage, with Niall McCullagh in saddle, to his six rivals. None accepted the challenge thrown by the son of Whisper’s Shadow and who is by Dark Nile. Aureus did make a valiant bid but the weight told on her efforts.
Anchors Aweigh ran true to his form and earned his corn bill while ex-jockey Amjad Khan reaped handsome rewards for his painstaking work on Cool Water. The daughter of Batzushka proved too good for her ten rivals. Eye To Eye obliged as the curtains came down but not before her supporters missed a heartbeat or two finding Moira in an unrelenting mood. Unofficial reports suggest that jockey R. Rupesh was not fully settled in the saddle astride Tagamet when the starter’s flag came down. Tagamet ran riderless.
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