Thursday’s races at Mumbai saw some facile finishes but not all the easy winners were prime favorites. Coccinella however, was an exception and was the most impressive winner on the day without doubt. Surprisingly the bookmakers, in a rare gesture of generosity, upped the odds on Coccinella and offered a princely 13/10 against the ante- post quote of around half-money. Her staunch backers though, were not complaining and for once laughed their way back to the banks.

Step Up, one of the main rivals and possibly  the one responsible for the drift in odds, shot ahead soon on start at a lively pace and maintaining a healthy lead of over two lengths until into the straight. Coccinella, Eastern Summit, Titian and Incognito followed in closer order.

Step Up looked good entering the straight, but not good enough when Coccinella got to work. Zervan eased the Shroff trained filly into a stronger canter and the Coccinella dished out more than enough to zip past Step up and leaving no hope for the rest either. She sailed ahead and bolted ahead to romp home in style. Incognito under some hard ridding managed to displace Step Up at the wire. Coccinella extended her reign on the Mumbai track, remaining unbeaten at the Mahalaxmi scoring her fifth straight victory on the turf from five outings here. Her three runs in Pune is where she hadn’t scored on. The way she galloped, she could easily add to this tally.

Jimbo (Senure – Lannkala) freed himself from a tight spot to catch the leader Home Factor at the nick of time to thrill a huge number of supporters to win the Mayor’s Trophy in a thriller. Jimbo did not get the most ideal of starts and raced in the mid-bunch while Fireheart and Incentio were at the helm. On entering the straight too, Grant did not do the ideal thing under the circumstances by  not skirting around the horses in front, instead waited for a possible opening between horses. He was obviously confident that he had a lot of speed under him and his ploy worked nicely as he got the room he was hoping for inside the final furlong.

Home Factor by then, had streaked ahead and was shaping up well. Grant made up with a forceful ride and had Jimbo gathering powerful momentum. Home Factor tried his best, but Jimbo spoilt his party strides before the winning post and pegged back the seeming winner, making his large number of backers scream in delight. Home Factor will wait to fight another day. It was commendable that Jimbo recovered from the shaky start and then again overcame the traffic niggle and finally to bring out his fiery best to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Zambezi (Steinbeck – Ammeter) put in a strong finishing effort to win a lot more convincingly than Mr Jaydev Mody’s Jimbo in the earlier race. Domain Anna brought the field into the straight, but was strongly challenged by Glowing Mist. Zambezi was quick to make progress and was prominent early enough to go for it early enough to calm his strong contingent of supporters. Glowing Mist did ive himself a chance at the distance post, but drifted out under pressure thus handing the lead and the race on a platter to the fast finishing Zambezi . Twittillator ran a note-worthy third and over a furlong less, can be a tough customer.

Staying Alive (Warrshan – Starry) won the concluding event of the day with a lively final surge, to notch up a second career victory after a gap of exactly a year and six runs in-between.  He was out quickly and settled to chase leader Bongani who set off at a good pace. The rest followed in a close bunch with Starry Ocean at the tail end of the field. 

Once into the straight, Bongani stubbornly held fort, but was under constant threat coming from the progressing Staying Alive. Masterofthesky was right there, but could not step it up and made little impact in the race.

Staying Alive produced a sizzling final finish to surge ahead and away from the opposition and win without encountering any worthy challenge. In the final fifty, he was all by himself and won well. Starry Ocean came with a big run the beat the entire field and finished a notable second.  Masterofthesky ended third in a heap of a finish for the minor placing.

Hurricane Wind (Steinbeck – Santorini Star) carried on his good work by winning his second outing this season over the extended distance of 2000 meters. He had won a mile race earlier in the season, beating favourite Halle on that occasion. He looked fit obviously in the paddock and picked up well to win with a measure of comfort.

Set Ablaze made all the initial work, leading the field al the way into the straight. Hurricane Wind sat well up in second with the rest, including heavily backed Divine Inspiration, following a little distance away. Set Ablaze didn’t look too assuring leading them into the straight and soon Hurricane Wind started to get more dominant. He took over the lead past the 400 and stormed ahead to gallop away to victory. Set Ablaze kept going and managed to thwart a game bid from Tara for the runner up berth. Favourite Divine Inspiration never looked the part and ended a poor last.

Captain Smart (Case Law – Afshaan) won the opening race of the day start to finish with Zoe applying some pressure towards the end. Captain smart had it covered alright and easily rebuffed the challenger. Captain Smart entered the straight with a slender lead with Winchester and Zoe the only challengers within vicinity. Captain Smart however, galloped on gamely and an all out eoffrot from Zoe only helped cut down the margin of victory.

Unknown Rebel (Case Law – Jaipur Jewel) put up an even better performance to rattle an encore. He was not in the best of positions early on, but made steady progress along the way. So True was in the lead with Mountain Wind and Glowing Star stalking him as they turned for home. Reckless Romeo got stuck on the rails and could not wriggle out until Unknown Rebel had gone past and got into top gear. Reckless Romeo made a strong bid once he came out of the jam, but by then Unknown Rebel had stolen a march and had a good momentum going as well. Octopaul made a late bid to end a decent third suggesting that a furlong longer would suit him best and that he is ready for a better show next time.

For the professionals, trainers Imtiaz Sait and Magansingh Jodha saddled a double each, while jockey Daniel Grant was the lone jockey to score a brace.