A light drizzle prior to the big race of the afternoon on Saturday had little effect on the course favourite Azureus as the Vijay Singh ward romped home a clear winner by over three lengths to lift the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Cup in style.

Western India's ace light-weight rider Neeraj Rawal kept the prize property of Deepak Khaitan in mid-division while natural front-runners Local Warrior and Arturo called the shots during this marathon trip of mile-and-three-quarter.

When alerted to the task, the wonder colt, who has improved in leaps and bound this season, left the field standing to win as he liked. The second in demand, Star Team, managed to finish a poor second.

The supporting event, The HSBC Metropolitan, saw yet another Vijay Singh-trained colt land the spoils without being fully stretched. Installed as the favourite, Cosmos and Malcolm Kharadi were handily placed in the third slot till the turning for home. At that point of time, Christopher Alford had Afforce running handily in mid-division. With a furlong left to run, the crack sprinter that he is, Afforce responded to his rider's call with great alacrity and recorded his fourth win of the season.

Trainer Bath enjoyed an extremely lucrative afternoon as he led in a fabulous treble comprising Imperial Romance, Legal Lady and Prospective Queen.

Imperial Romance defied the handicapper to notch up a facile hattrick. The chestnut gelding is yet another youngster from Khaitan's stable which has improved enormously.
Legal Lady has not been running impressively this season but in the lowest class, the mare found her running shoes to leave the field cold. The course favourite in the race, Summer Rose, rather unfortunately burst her blood vessels and finished an unimpressive fifth.

Bath's third winner, Prospective Queen, won a touch-and-go affair on the final stride. The filly got the better of the runaway Flying Jaguar, thanks to the forceful riding of Neeraj Rawal.

The sprint for the P.C. Lall of Nazargunj Trophy for three-year-olds only was all Piato. In the hands of the reliable Malcolm Kharadi, the gelding made every post a winning one.
The two shockers of the day were Patrick Quinn's Lusitania in the Portugal Cup and Robin Corner's Royal County Down, who made a mockery of his penalty.

The on-money public choice Brave Quest veered out of a straight course after being slow-off, other than which he would have surely got the better of Lusitania..