The closing odds for the Pune Juvenile Million reflected Salute The Star (2/1) and River Pride (3/1) as the two top market fancies, and one expected them to fight it out at the judge's end in the feature event of Saturday's nine-race card. However, the ring contenders turned out to be pretenders, and it was left for Desert Queen (4/1) and Great White (8/1) to fight out a stirring duel in the homestretch, the former winning it in the hands of C Rajendra by just half a lGreat White fought gallantly no doubt, but the fact was once again underscored that the Bezan Chenoy stable is the biggest sufferer for not having a regular, in-form jockey's services. Be that as it may, C Rajendra astride Desert Queen, after lying fourth all along the trip, made his move around the turn and it looked like he would sail away for a comfortable victory. But Great White engaged in hot dispute soon on straightening up, and Rajendra had to use all his urging skills to ward off the threat to gain the day.

In the supporting event of the day, the Fourth Estate Trophy, Chancellor was quickest out of the gates, and so was Little Warrior (C Rajendra up), for whom so much money came in at the last moment that he was almost installed as the joint favourite along with the Nazak Chinoy-trained Illuminate. YS Srinath astride the last-named tried to pace with the duo, but found himself falling back by the 3-furlong pole, and although he gained some ground after Little Warrior threw in the towel in the straight, Chancellor, the property of Vijay Shirke, KN Dhunjibhoy and BM Desai trained by Pesi Shroff, had by then bounded away for an impressive victory. Il Tabarro, who had all along been on the heels of Illuminate, finished third despite running very green, and Emerald Star flattered himself by dislodging Little Warrior out of the van and taking the fourth spot.

The best riding display of the day came in the Sunny Downs Trophy when Malcolm Kharadi astride winner Kapathos gave a very mature ride to the Altamash Ahmed trainee. He let him stride easy in the fifth place, angled slightly out before negotiating the turn to ensure clear passage but without putting on pressure, got him into excellent rhythm steadily until the 300-metre mark, and then galvanized Kapathos for a top gear effort which ensured a decisive one-length victory over favourite Cloud Cover at the wire.

The day began with the apprentice DS Rathore notching up yet another win with Always. The in-form rookie took the Dallas Todywalla ward on a start-to-finish mission, and successfully shook off Resilience (Dasrath Singh up) who did momentarily raised hopes for the Sangramsingh Joshi camp 100 meters from home, before being frustrated more by a superior whipless rider than a better horse.

Trainer Hormuz Antia whose favourite Cloud Cover, as described previously, lost to a well-ridden Kapathos later in the day, had met with similar fate with his Native Strategy too in the second race of the card. Hovering around evens or thereabouts all the time, Native Strategy went to the post as a very strong favourite for the Guest Connections Plate for Class III horses of the 5-year and older variety. But another rookie, Ishwar Pardeshi, put paid to the public fancy's hopes when he scored an effortless victory astride Polariser at the nourishing odds of 17 to 1. Antia however had some consolation when C Rajendra took no chances with his Rising Hero, also a piping hot favourite, and coasted to a comfortable victory in the Doorani Plate, crushing his rivals by a long margin of eight-and-a-half lengths.

The followers of money were just about celebrating this resounding success of a favourite when they were yet again wounded by a crushing blow in the form of the debacle of Treasure Isle, an on-money fancy from trainer Karthik Ganapathy's yard and ridden by B Prakash. The ace rider did well to have her out in a jiffy and stay clear of all trouble, but when he asked her for effort, she just failed to respond and could not accelerate at all. This encouraged Aadesh Kumar astride Saffron who rode the Magansingh Jodha ward vigorously and refused to relinquish the slender advantage to Tudor Regent and Angelo, both of whom however managed to push the favourite off the place money in a close finish.

In the very next race, however, followers of B Prakash must have more than made their losses when he steered the Nina Lalwani-trained Born Special to a hard-fought victory over Saddler's Rule at the lucrative odds of 6 to 1.

Such is the irrational nature of hope that the followers of money, having received severe drubbing all through the day (their only saviour being Rising Hero), did not mind pinning their hopes on the favourite of the last race, Hammerhead, despite it being ridden by an apprentice, MA Roushan, who is just setting out on his riding career. But neither Roushan nor they were in for luck when the 8 to 1 shot Solid Rock, ridden by Nirmal Jodha and trained by Nirand Karanjawalla, spared half a length at the wire to the public fancy. ength. While River Pride grabbed the third spot, albeit three lengths behind the duo, favourite Salute The Star could do no better than finish ninth.

Great White fought gallantly no doubt, but the fact was once again underscored that the Bezan Chenoy stable is the biggest sufferer for not having a regular, in-form jockey's services. Be that as it may, C Rajendra astride Desert Queen, after lying fourth all along the trip, made his move around the turn and it looked like he would sail away for a comfortable victory. But Great White engaged in hot dispute soon on straightening up, and Rajendra had to use all his urging skills to ward off the threat to gain the day.

In the supporting event of the day, the Fourth Estate Trophy, Chancellor was quickest out of the gates, and so was Little Warrior (C Rajendra up), for whom so much money came in at the last moment that he was almost installed as the joint favourite along with the Nazak Chinoy-trained Illuminate. YS Srinath astride the last-named tried to pace with the duo, but found himself falling back by the 3-furlong pole, and although he gained some ground after Little Warrior threw in the towel in the straight, Chancellor, the property of Vijay Shirke, KN Dhunjibhoy and BM Desai trained by Pesi Shroff, had by then bounded away for an impressive victory. Il Tabarro, who had all along been on the heels of Illuminate, finished third despite running very green, and Emerald Star flattered himself by dislodging Little Warrior out of the van and taking the fourth spot.

The best riding display of the day came in the Sunny Downs Trophy when Malcolm Kharadi astride winner Kapathos gave a very mature ride to the Altamash Ahmed trainee. He let him stride easy in the fifth place, angled slightly out before negotiating the turn to ensure clear passage but without putting on pressure, got him into excellent rhythm steadily until the 300-metre mark, and then galvanized Kapathos for a top gear effort which ensured a decisive one-length victory over favourite Cloud Cover at the wire.

The day began with the apprentice DS Rathore notching up yet another win with Always. The in-form rookie took the Dallas Todywalla ward on a start-to-finish mission, and successfully shook off Resilience (Dasrath Singh up) who did momentarily raised hopes for the Sangramsingh Joshi camp 100 meters from home, before being frustrated more by a superior whipless rider than a better horse.

Trainer Hormuz Antia whose favourite Cloud Cover, as described previously, lost to a well-ridden Kapathos later in the day, had met with similar fate with his Native Strategy too in the second race of the card. Hovering around evens or thereabouts all the time, Native Strategy went to the post as a very strong favourite for the Guest Connections Plate for Class III horses of the 5-year and older variety. But another rookie, Ishwar Pardeshi, put paid to the public fancy's hopes when he scored an effortless victory astride Polariser at the nourishing odds of 17 to 1. Antia however had some consolation when C Rajendra took no chances with his Rising Hero, also a piping hot favourite, and coasted to a comfortable victory in the Doorani Plate, crushing his rivals by a long margin of eight-and-a-half lengths.

The followers of money were just about celebrating this resounding success of a favourite when they were yet again wounded by a crushing blow in the form of the debacle of Treasure Isle, an on-money fancy from trainer Karthik Ganapathy's yard and ridden by B Prakash. The ace rider did well to have her out in a jiffy and stay clear of all trouble, but when he asked her for effort, she just failed to respond and could not accelerate at all. This encouraged Aadesh Kumar astride Saffron who rode the Magansingh Jodha ward vigorously and refused to relinquish the slender advantage to Tudor Regent and Angelo, both of whom however managed to push the favourite off the place money in a close finish.

In the very next race, however, followers of B Prakash must have more than made their losses when he steered the Nina Lalwani-trained Born Special to a hard-fought victory over Saddler's Rule at the lucrative odds of 6 to 1.

Such is the irrational nature of hope that the followers of money, having received severe drubbing all through the day (their only saviour being Rising Hero), did not mind pinning their hopes on the favourite of the last race, Hammerhead, despite it being ridden by an apprentice, MA Roushan, who is just setting out on his riding career. But neither Roushan nor they were in for luck when the 8 to 1 shot Solid Rock, ridden by Nirmal Jodha and trained by Nirand Karanjawalla, spared half a length at the wire to the public fancy.