Black Magic Woman (Placerville – One Magic Moment) paid due homage to her late father - Placerville, by pulling off a sensational victory in The Hello! Million, against the heavily fancied Elena. It didn’t look all rosy for the Katrak filly coming into the race. Elena had impressed most racing pundits with her sheer brilliance on debut. Then the fact that both Black Magic Woman and Elena had beaten the same rival Silk Cut had provided the ‘line’ for analysts to measure one’s superiority in terms of margin of victory. Here too Elena’s box was ticked as she had completely outpaced Silk Cut by overwhelming 5-plus lengths as against Black Magic Woman’s three and quarter. So the form book tilted the scales towards Elena, or did it? 

Black Magic Woman had one comforting fact to boost her hopes. Class Apart, the Burden of Proof progeny had beaten her in Pune when she was taken to be a certainty. Class Apart’s complete destruction of her opponents in Bangalore in the Dayanand Pai and Satish Pai Winter Million on Saturday, must have injected a lot of confidence, particularly basking in the fact that Class Apart won as he liked from end to end. While Class Apart toyed with the opposition, Black Magic Woman had to toil to beat her main opponent. 

Elena, as expected, blazed to the lead and scorched the turf at a brisk pace. Visionist and Snow Blaze were making an effort to keep up with Elena. Black Magic Woman was next, towards the rails, and the rest were never in contention. Elena came in home with a handy lead and was going well. Snow Blaze got past Visionist and soon Black Magic Woman started to bridge the gap. She got past Snow Blaze easily and with a furlong to go, set about narrowing down the two-length margin between Elena and her. Inside the final 100, Black Magic Woman produced a stinging final burst that sent her sailing past Elena sparing a length at the winning post clocking an impressive 1:10.23, perhaps the fastest timing this season for the five-furlong scurry. 

It was an impressive win for Black Magic Woman who is extremely talented and also blessed with a temperament to match. The way she accelerated in the final moments displays extraordinary potential and Katrak would be the first to spot this. She now has catapulted into a bigger league and certainly has a bright future. Elena too ran a cracker of a race and will take a lot of positives from this run. She too clocked a smart timing which augurs well for her and this being only her second run, the defeat will not hurt much. She has shown sparks of class and will be well worth watching. 

Sergeant Pepper (Burden of Proof – Loch Katrine) proved too good for his rivals and won the YM Chaudhry Memorial Cup with absolute ease. Hayes had to hold him as Sergeant Pepper veered leftward soon on jumping out. That did not cause any loss of ground as Hayes quickly managed to have the Shroff ward on even kneel. Sitting last of four with Swift Memories at the helm, Sergeant Pepper stepped up pace as if in a hurry to be done with the race. Hayes, not wanting to disappoint the Sergeant, let him go past the 800 m. Sergeant Pepper sped ahead at the turn and there was no stopping him thereafter. He accelerated smoothly and stretched away from his rivals to post a handsome victory. The initial pace was slow; hence the timing was not too attractive. Sergeant Pepper though, showed clean acceleration and would be a force to reckon with over a trip. 

Strelitzia (Razeen – Habiltzia) commemorated her illustrious Sire Razeen who expired last week, with a smashing victory. With Classerville being withdrawn on veterinary grounds, the field was reduced to three runners going to the gates. Strelitzia went about her business in the most convincing fashion pulling off an impeccable victory in great style. She took charge from the word ‘go’ and maintained a firm grip all through to the winning post. Cosmopolitan tried to make a fight of it mid-way in the straight, but Strelitzia would have none of it and stretched further away to post a three-length victory, clearly enforcing her superiority. 

The star of the day emerged in the latter half of the day with apprentice jockey P Trevor shining brightly scoring a hat-trick winning the 7th, 8th and 9th races. Arbudh (Royal Kingdom – Musical Pepper) put in a late but telling effort towards the finish of the mile and quarter Deepak Raut Gold Trophy. The favourite Carousal looked feeble as she led the field into the straight and when Roesti challenged her, she had nothing extra to offer. 

Roesti galloped on gamely and went into the lead past the 400. Had he gone straight on he would have, speculatively speaking, kept the race and drawn first blood. However, he committed hara-kiri shifting out alarmingly. In the process, he hindered Arbudh who was coming into the picture covering ground briskly in the last furlong. Roesti drifted out and came in the way of the progressing Arbudh and although Roesti won the race on the track, Trevor’s objection was upheld by the stewards and the race was awarded to Arbudh. Brave Gypsy ran into place money at the cost of Carousal who failed to sustain after being in the lead until the last 400. 

Trevor celebrated this success with a thumping victory astride Midsummer Knight (Tirol – Midsummer Romance) in The Indian Navy Trophy. Sitting in the mid-bunch, chasing Swept Away and a tightly packed front group, Midsummer Knight shot into the lead approaching the distance post and gathered fierce momentum to outpace his rivals to win in style. Trevor just eased the Naren gelding past Swept Away and favourite Saints N Sinners to win drawing away. Generalissimo came from a long way back to run a notable second. 

Native Lady (Warrshan – Outtostealthescene) provided a fine three-in-a-row for Trevor and he had a lot to do in contributing to the victory. Doctor No called the shots well into the straight. There was a bunch of runners keen to make a race of it and Sterling Silver was the first to challenge the leader. Soon Native Lady poked through between horses and favourite Sea Bucaneer went for the rails. Trevor timed his finish well and went into the lead in the final furlong. He kept working hard to ward off his rivals and hung on to win a well-fought race. Sunlight Magic came from behind to pip Sea Bucaneer for the runner-up berth. Sterling Silver filled the frame. 

Ocean Fairy (Ontario – Miss Peregrine) won in a breathtaking fashion in a close call with Tag Along Tommy. Leading the field into the straight with Tag Along Tommy just a length behind, Ocean Fairy managed to dart further ahead early in the straight. Tag Along Tommy then warmed up past the distance post and came up with a stiff challenge. The duo fought out a gripping battle and Ocean Fairy did well to keep her nose ahead at the wire. For Tag Along Tommy, it was a heart-breaking loss as he had almost got the measure of the favourite. Emerald Queen and Secret Talk who ended third and fourth respectively on the track switched the placing after the stewards reviewed the race following an objection by jockey J Chinoy. Emerald Queen apparently crossed the path of Secret Talk thus costing him the third place. The objection was upheld and the placing revised. 

The closest finish of the day was the one involving Pharoah and Prince Cyrus. After a very long time the judges had called for a photo finish and taken their time to declare the winner. Prince Cyrus had taken over from Top Action soon on turning for home. Pharoah (Royal Gladiator – Aerobica) got into action past the 400 and was inching closer to Prince Cyrus who had a good momentum going. Past the distance post, the fight began and Prince Cyrus was stubbornly keeping his nose ahead. Pharoah made a last ditch effort and surged alongside and just about managed to have his nose in front on the wire. Thriller too produced a good finishing effort and ended just a head behind the two. 

Houdini (Placerville – Romantic Memories) came into his own and dished out a comfortable victory with J Chinoy playing a perfect ally. They pulled off a neat start-to-finish victory. Again Gallop tried hard to match strides with Houdini and even joined the leader early in the straight, but Houdini had a lot more in the tank and flourished in the final furlong to run away for a comfortable victory, a sweet first victory of his long career. 

The last race of the day saw a tough fight and Albuurz (Diffident – Knowle Park) did well to wriggle a tight finish. Albuurz shot into the lead soon on start and kept up at a good clip. On the contrary, favourite Ocean Trail was slowly out not losing much ground but in a big field over five furlongs that proved fatal. Albuurz came into the straight with a handy lead with Glorious Miss in chase. The final furlong saw a stiff fight between the two with Albuurz fighting for survival. The onslaught from Glorious Miss was serious and the two hit the wire almost abreast. Albuurz survived narrowly but watch out for Glorious Miss next time out over the same distance. Classic Ruler ended a faraway third. 

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff and HJ Antia scored a double each while jockey P Trevor notched a treble. Jockey CD Hayes chipped in with a double as well.