Snow Dew beat the opposition pointless to win the Kingfisher Fillies Trial Stakes (Grade I) in taking style. There was no doubt whatsoever about the superiority of Snow Dew after her brilliant performance in the Knock Out Million and the only question mark was about her temperamental nature. But by her emphatic performance, Snow Dew has placed herself in line for many more laurels.

With Affability being rendered hors de combat due to a chipped bone in the knee, Snow Dew was left without any opposition to test her mettle. So much so that trainer Zareer Darashah who rarely runs his wards in classics, entered Hope And Faith who had reeled off four wins in a row as a final entry in the belief that his ward would at least finish second and earn valuable stake money. He was not disappointed as Hope And Faith edged past a tiring Ciel Fleuri close home.  To Darashah’s luck, the saddle slipped on Cile Fleuri soon after the jump out, resulting in Shroff bolting with his mount, which prevented the filly from performing to her potential.

The pace set by Ciel Fleuri was hot, with Star of The Future who was assigned the job of a pacemaker finding it hard to match strides and falling behind. Jockey Prakash quickly sized up the situation and had his filly within striking distance. The favourite cruised past the front-running Ciel Fleuri and went clear in a trice to win pulling up in an excellent timing of one minute 39.65 seconds. The winner spared seven and half-lengths to Hope And Faith. The Broto progeny, who was a modest purchase, has turned out to be a money-spinner for Darashah who partly owns the filly. First-timer Rio ran a creditable race to finish fourth ahead of Hello Baby who like his half brother Hell Brother, should relish longer trips as the filly moved from the rear and was gaining places in the home stretch.

Shroff said that the field for the Fillies Stakes was one of the poorest in recent years. "The horses were so slow at the finish that it took quite a while for the winning post to be sighted!’’

The much maligned Arrakis once again proved that there was nothing wrong with him when recording an impressive win in the 1400 metres Dharmaprakasha L S Venkaji Rao Memorial Cup, a race for horses rated 40 and above. Trainer Rashid Byramji who was obviously disappointed with Arrakis who did not live up to expectations, had told the Stewards when the gelding had shown total reversal of form in winter that his

ward was ungenuine and that he was overrated. Despite the seven-furlong trip being sharp to his style of running, the Steinbeck progeny covered acres of ground in the run in for home, to collar the front-running Bank Balance close home. This performance of Arrakis should put to rest all the theories that were advanced for his miserable show in a few races after he went out of classic reckoning.

Scenic Star led the field from the start, with Bank Balance racing a close third. Rajesh, who replaced the injured Aslam Kader on Arrakis, had his mount in the rear, behind the wall of horses. Inside the final 200 metres, Bank Balance was shaping like a winner as he was wearing out the challenge of Scenic Star but the finishing burst of Arrakis put paid to the hopes of the supporters of Bank Balance who were expecting their swell their balance. Calcutta challenger Fame Star, who went into the race with four straight wins to his credit, was outclassed.

Jaggy Dhariwal trained Aprilia, who had impressive credentials, was backed to the exclusion of her rivals in the 1200 metres Justice P Medappa Memorial Cup (Div II). The Don’t Forget Me progeny proved too speedy for her rivals, leading the field from the word `go’ and then stretching away from the rest. Magic Stride plodded on to be a faraway second ahead of a late-finishing Rumplestiltskin who moved from the rear to finish third at the expense of Jungle Cat. The upper division of the race saw Amber Dancer proving too good for the opposition. Hero Worship, with better fitness and stronger handling, could have made a difference to the outcome but in the end, was a creditable second ahead of Brora and Alisa. Hero Worship should recoup the losses next time out.

There was an alarming drift in the price of favourite Inxss in the betting ring in the Mauritius Pearl Plate, a race for lowest rated horses. However, the favourite duly obliged albeit thanks to a vigorous effort on the park of jockey Gallagher whose perseverence paid handsome dividends in the end. Top-weighted Hayate who had assumed control inside the final 250 metres, weakned close home, enabling the favourite to land the spoils.

While trainer Abdullah led in a winner through a horse, which went out of favour in the betting ring, the one, which saw the price tumbling, ran like a dud. Auric was backed to the exclusion of his rivals but the favourite was never in the hunt as jockey Srinath struggled to get going on the Abdullah ward. Lesser fancied Squeeze in the hands of jockey Appu, squeezed his way along the rails to land the spoils from Ivory Wings who would have been seen in better light with a slight step up in distance. Emerald Forest finished third ahead of the dead-heated pair of National star and Exstream. Make a note of National Star.

Jockey Srinath had earlier failed on another public fancy Star Wings (Diablo Plate Div II) where lesser fancied Red Angel going clear of the field inside the final 300 metres to win as she liked from the favourite. Furia Rossa missed the runner-up spot by a whisker. In the upper division of the race, jockey Shakti Singh’s power packed finish enabled favourite Ride With Pride to get the better of front-running Kisunugntly and the late-finishing Star Liner. A mere neck separated the first three placed horses.

Earlier in the day, Shakti Singh had ridden out C A Kuts trained Persian Belle to a resolute victory over a late-finishing Tal. There was a flood of money on Ooty import Grand Illusion and the filly lived up to her name.