Two of Ashish Tograllu’s winners, Gaea and Giacosa, belonged to Vinayak’s yards and while the third one, Queen of Hearts, was saddled by Arti Doctor. More importantly, Tograllu infused tremendous confidence in the minds of moneybags, who had no hesitation in entrusting their money on his mounts.

Gaea (Placerville – Zuni), who had run with gay abandon in Ashish’s hands in the Independence Trophy, called the shots once again that too over an extended trip of a mile-and-a-half on this occasion. Though Fiddler’s Ferry and World War Three came to run on her tail at the turn, Gaea held the upper hand over her rivals till end. World War Three ran on to finish second while SomethingAboutHer stretched out to beat the tired Fiddler’s Ferry for the third spot.

Ashish’s next engagement was in the highest class astride Giacosa (Placerville – Puzla) whom he rode with great aplomb. He got the filly to wrest the lead as soon as the field crossed the six-furlong chute and then led merrily till the winning post. Brahmaputra looked menacing opposite the stands but Giacosa shrugged him off easily. Giacosa’s bottom-weighted stablemate Rococo had his own share of supporters but failed to oblige while playing second fiddle. Portrush was seen gaining good ground towards the end but he failed to gain the advantage as he started to hang in. However, he managed to dead-heat with Brahmaputra for the third place.

Vinayak achieved his hat-trick before Ashish could complete his treble. Debutant Seillans (Major Impact – Flensburg) though neglected in the betting proved far too superior for her thirteen rivals to provide jockey C. Rajendra his daily quota of a solitary win. The bay filly stalked Victor Ivanov and Star Gesture till the 400m-marker. Seillans grabbed the lead as the heads turned for home and stretched away for an impressive win which was as good as runner-up Peninsula’s brave attempt to catch her. Victor Ivanov stayed on to finish third ahead of Secret Pilgrim, who ran disappointingly as did Star Gesture.

Queen of Hearts (Warrshan – Winning Venture) brought immense joy to Ashish Tograllu when she sprinted away for a glorious win over Modesty, High Rising and Druid Glens. The Arti Doctor schooled Queen of Hearts showed plenty of early speed and was aided by the 5kg claimed by her rider but she has to really thank jockey C. Rajendra for his “modest” effort on the runner-up, who is interestingly owned by one of the Stewards of the Club. S. N. Chavan was also miserly in his efforts on High Rising.

Major Starr (Major Impact – Mystique Smile) from Narendra Lagad’s yard won convincingly in the curtain raiser despite the odds rising against him in the betting arena. La Tremolo failed to live up to the expectations of many and laboured hard to finish second.

Golden Edition (Alnasr Alwasheek – Aroma), as mentioned earlier, subdued his local challengers to make a grand appearance on the tracks here. B. Prakash hit the front with Karthik’s protégé and held on for an authoritative win over Giocometti and the rest. Terre Blanche was the only horse which looked like she would pose a threat to the winner as the race progressed but the filly failed to quicken and was collared by both Giocometti and the late-finishing Pillatus in the shadow of the final post.

Narendra Lagad and Magansingh Jodha brought some cheers to the bookies by saddling the lesser fancied Magic Spell (Tirol – White Magic) and Crespo (Case Law – Pussy Cat) to upset victories in the last two races. Magic Spell piloted by S. N. Chavan put in a sustained run to outwit Emerging Power initially but was hard-pressed by Shaktiman, who dragged his reluctant saddle-partner towards the wire. Favourite Ring Bearer ran thereabouts to finish third.

Crespo with Dashrath Singh in saddle upset the both Mejestical and Flashing Flame, who held better credentials than their rivals. Sadly, for the punters, both these horses chose to keep a low profile. Crespo exploited this opportunity to rake in some stake money. Acceptance showed the way to the field before ending a fair fifth. He should strike over a sprint before the season ends.