Popular fancy Dancing Glances (Placerville – Dancing Green) owned by the Sopher Racing Syndicate and bred at the Poonawalla Estates Stud, lived up to expectations and drove the bottom weight advantage to the hilt to claim the Nirmal Ruia Gold Cup beating a good set of rivals comfortably.

Dancing Glances settled behind leader Star Trainer with Dear Henry and Rajasthan Royals following her closely. Star Trainer entered the straight with a handy lead; however, Dancing Glances stepped up momentum to join the leader with 300 to go. Rajasthan Royals too started to improve from the outside and Berlusconi emerging well between horses. Dancing Glances galloped on strongly coming into the final furlong and bounded away to score a crisp victory. Rajasthan Royals’ was a commendable effort too and she ended just a length and half away nosing out Berlusconi for the second slot. The latter finished on well and needs watching over a longer trip. Cardinal found the weight a real burden. His number of runs too seems to have taken a toll on him. He was listless in his performance and is best rested for a while.

Volterra (Razeen – Averoff) produced a high class performance and was easily the most impressive winner on the day. Even an objection by Rajendra astride Su Chaliyo against Volterra did not dilute her superlative canter to victory. Rajendra’s contention that had Volterra not crossed his path, with more than 500 meters to go, he would have won the race seemed more a hopeful imagination than practical reality. He did receive a hard check and he did lose a bit of ground but this hardly had any bearing on the outcome of the race. This tactical attempt failed to hold any water with the Stewards and the objection was duly overruled.

Volterra was lying in wait in the rear with only the top weighted Su Chaliyo just behind her. Agni Baan, as expected, was the one making the running with favourite Capriole in chase. Stromboli and Limitless Hills were off the bridle even before they took the final turn. Agni Baan entered the straight but drifted away from Capriole as they straightened up. Volterra loomed large as she moved to one behind the leader. Zervan was extremely confident as Volterra moved closer to Agni Baan with each stride at half throttle. Zervan didn’t move a muscle all through – he didn’t need to – as Volterra asserted in her gallop that the high expectations on her were not without reason. She literally ambled to victory by a healthy margin and another victory is round the corner for this in-form filly.

Agni Baan did well to finish second to a better filly and his consistency is praiseworthy. Su Chaliyo did cover ground to best the rest, but under duress. The rest disappointed, Capriole included.

Set To Fly (Home Affairs – Set The Mood) lived up to the promise he had shown in his last start. He had gone down fighting to Commander who was the lone challenger to Neona in the SA Poonawalla in his subsequent outing. That raised the stocks for Set To Fly and he obliged his followers with a thumping victory, which was as authoritative as it was impressive.

Grande Dame led all the way into the straight with Set To Fly, Justice and Burgundy Rose in close order. Once they turned for home, Set To Fly opened his wings and flew away. Justice tried to chase him down but couldn’t do so. It was later announced that Justice had bled. Burgundy Rose ended a tame third. Set To Fly scored his maiden victory in his fourth outing and promised to add a couple before long.

Jockey Dashrath Singh moved to striking distance in the jockey’s championship tally moving closer to leader A Sandesh booting home three winners on the day. Other than riding Dancing Glances (18/10) to victory, Dashrath partnered Sizzling Love (6/1) and Visionist (7/1) making it a very lucrative treble.

Visionist (Warrshan – Star Profile) scored a scintillating win in a thrilling finish. The top six finished in a heap and with 200 to go it was a cavalry charge. Daffodils, King Julien, Autumn Rush, Zakynthos, Visionist and Gold Glamour were all pulling their individual might and racing towards the winning post. They were all going at a breakneck speed and one couldn’t pick the winner even 100 meters from the post. Visionist and Gold Glamour moved the fastest and the former just won by the proverbial skin of his teeth. Gold Glamour was distinctly unfortunate to see a brilliant effort go down so narrowly.  This was a fitting end to a thrilling day of racing.

Dashrasth Singh piloted Sizzling love (Sizzling Melody – Love and Joy) to his second win this season with a late appearance having to make gradual progress from the second last position. National Ikon had led the field homewards and had built a handy lead coming into the straight. With only Macho Uno in the vicinity, he looked promising to carry on all the way. Sizzling Love moved between horses and as Dashrath gave him a couple of cracks, Sizzling Love started to cover ground. Macho Uno was driven all out and stayed with the pair. In the final fifty, Sizzling Love overpowered his rivals and surged forward going away from the two to win well. Macho Uno worked hard to edge out National Ikon to gain the runner-up berth. Nation Ikon would be better off going a furlong less and he looks good for a scurry.

Word of Honour (Oath – Where Eagles Dare) won the Pegasus Trophy leaving tote favourite Lorelei too far away to score a dominating victory. He settled to chase leader Plan B from early on and bounded forward to take charge at the turn. Lorelei was quick to up to second in the straight and any hope she had of catching up with Word of Honour was blown in seconds as Word Of Honour galloped away to pile up a huge lead making it a no contest past the distance post. Jockey B Prakash did everything possible but could not get what was needed to even narrow down the margin. The Srikanth Kamble ridden Word of Honour from Narendra Lagad’s yard kicked away to post an impressive four-length victory. Lorelei was a pale second. Mountain Force too was never prominent but managed to earn place money. Persian, who raced in the rear for the first half of the journey, covered good ground to find a place in the frame.

Krypton (Emerald Cat – Wonder of You) put up a super heroic performance compared to his last run to win the E d’Avoine Trophy from the word go. He took a good start and that was all he needed to do was to  sustain his charge all the way , which he did commendably. Asahi the favourite, was with Krypton as they turned for home, but suddenly came under pressure and dropped out of the reckoning. Atlantic Star tried to make a fight of it, but could not finish on as well as she might have wanted to. O’ Princess improved towards the end to wrest the second spot from Atlantic Star. Only White lost ground at the start and could not recover thereafter, however, though she gained some ground in the final stages, she just failed to peg back Daughterofdestiny for a place in the frame.

Foxtrot (Ontario – Thirtysomething) confounded the market trends as even a wide drift in the odds against him he proved the bookies wrong. Hitting the front right from start, Foxtrot settled well and quickly to find a good rhythm. He entered the straight held comfortably and jockey Sandesh just had to niggle him on and Foxtrot danced away to victory galloping away from the rest. He won unchallenged and looked good for an encore. Royalty followed him all the way in the homestretch but could only watch the winner get out of reach. Arabian Chief improved a couple of places to end third.

For the professionals, Dashrath Singh rode a good treble while trainer SK Sunderji saddled a neat double.