The high-point of Sunday’s races were the two’ Million’ races for the Gen-next among the equine wannabes with the Sahaan Infrastructure Pvt Ltd sponsoring the Sahaan Sprinters’ Million for three-year-olds and the Sahaan Juvenile million for rookie two-year-olds. Both the races were won by the Shroff-Zervan combination giving them an appreciable ‘Million Double.

The Sahaan Sprinters’ Million had ten hopefuls lining up to face the starter. Of these, Bullseye (Kheleyf – La Cienega) was the firm favourite after her stormy debut victory less than three weeks back. Also, she was the only one in the fray who had the ‘run benefit’ among the contenders.  The quote of 11/10 against thus seemed justified.

Bullseye obliged, but not without a minor flutter when she drifted out under pressure at a crucial juncture inside the final furlong, providing for the adrenalin flow for her supporters to thump their fists in the air when the winning moment came, with the cry – “Bullseye!” renting the air in sync. Grande Dame was the one to play the challenger’s role and played it well until it lasted, though briefly.

Grande Dame had done thin everything right in the early stages. She jumped out well and soon sped past the bunch jostling for vantage positions. She soon led the field against some quick gallopers, with Afrojack, Bourbon Street and Sergeant Regent crowding close behind. Bullseye was next, racing on the outside of the bunch and hounded by two other previous winners in Que Sera Sera and Ice Zone on the rails at the turn, to set up an exciting finale.

Into the straight, Grande Dame did not lower her guard and threw the gauntlet at Bullseye.  Grande Dame was speeding well and had left Afrojack and Bourbon Street behind passing the 400 m marker. This is when Bullseye picked up momentum and started bridging the gap. The way she gained ground, it appeared that Bullseye would stretch away and win by a widening margin. However, she started to drift outward and at that crucial juncture it set the hearts pounding. Zervan however, was up to the task and brought the filly to an even kneel to ensure the filly maintained her course and the momentum to finally dominate the final 100 meters. Bullseye stormed past Grande Dame to win convincingly if not comfortably by just over a length. However, she left no doubt that she was superior to the set and has enough talent and ability to score further during the course of the season. A hat-trick surely looks on the card for the Shroff trainee owned by the popular trio – Shirke, Dhunjibhoy and Berjis Desai.  

Dr Vijay Mallya owned Senora Bella (Burden of Proof – Si Senora) bred at the Kunigal Stud Farm was the one to provide the double whammy to the Shroff camp. The bay filly’s flashing finish was awesome for a debutante just feeling her feet on the race turf. Senora Bella was not exactly in ‘box seat’ at anytime for the majority of the race. In fact, she was caught in jostle at the jump and raced closer to the rear of the field. Dark William and Saturday Affair settled to take the top two positions at the start while Panthera, who attracted a lot of attention in the betting ring, was a tad slow at the jump.

Dark William guided them into the straight and soon passed the baton to Saturday Affair who took charge early in the straight. Saturday Affair moved well and began to gallop towards the winning post. Senora Bella took the turn wide too thus having to cover more ground. However, she made up for it with a sizzling gallop and flashed past the speeding Saturday Affair with impressive strides to post a memorable debut victory. Saturday Affair a touch unlucky to have encountered Senora Bella in the devastating mood. Ancient Warrior improved positions and did well to take the third spot from Panthera close to the winning post.

Before the glory of these two triumphs, the Shroff camp had to take a harsh loss with Ascot Magic the day’s shortest priced favorite at 4/10 on, failing to score as widely expected. He was too far back for comfort in the early stages and when they turned for home, Etesian had a handy lead over the ones immediately behind her, Brave Vision and Sacred Soul while Ascot Magic was still some distance away, searching for his channel of finish.

Brave Vision soon bowed out as Etesian was grinding her way towards the winning post. Sacred Soul who was coming in with back to back victories in Pune, lit up passing the distance post and sprang ahead to join Etesian for a close finish. Ascot Magic was covering ground briskly too, only there were acres to cover and not enough time. Sacred Soul duly got the measure of Etesian with a superior finishing effort and posted a fine victory thus compiling a hat-trick between the two western India centers. Ascot Magic covered ground towards the finish, clearly indicating that he would have preferred a lot more ground.  

The Municipal Commissioner’s Trophy saw a long drawn battle for supremacy between favourite Black Pearl ridden by Dashrath Singh and Lorelei  (Emerald Cat – Romantic Pleasure) partnered by YS Srinath. The stretch-run was confined to Black Pearl and Lorelei once they got entangled in a grim fight approaching the distance post. Black Pearl was ahead when Lorelei made a smooth forward move and joined the favorite. Just when Lorelei began to step on it, Black Pearl got more determined and was up to the challenge. The pair fought out every inch of the ground with the bob of the head see-sawing ether way for a couple of strides. Dashrath Singh rode out Black Pearl as a last ditch effort to shake off the challenger. In doing so, the lesser experienced Black Pearl ran green and bumped Lorelei meters before the winning post. That proved fatal for Lorelei.

Jockey Srinath didn’t think twice and lodged an objection against Dashrath for taking his ground, bumping him and throwing him off balance all in the final stages of the race. There was no doubt in the Stewards’ mind that Lorelei was faulted against and they duly upheld the objection and reversed the judge’s verdict in favour of the Nina Lalvani trained filly.

Grand March (Burden of Proof – Creativity) pulled off a successful coup at lucrative odds while winning the concluding race of the day, at the expense of favourite Dreamland. There was an unfortunate mishap in the early half of the race as Fairy Queen and Sherlock Holmes fell during the race.  Fortunately both jockeys escaped serious damage.

Plan B brought the field homeward but squandered a good lead. Dreamland made quick progress to grab the initiative midway in the straight. However, a spirited gallop from Grand March was too good for Dreamland to counter and the favourite fell back after a brief fight. Grand March was up to the task, well-prepared to dish out a handsome victory. Showers of Heaven made good ground to earn place money, beating Mzima for the third.

Earlier in the day, Mr Morrison (Ace – Intuition) produced an excellent turn of foot to smash the opposition to score his maiden victory with authority.  Young Mr Morrison took off early and led the mighty field of 14 runners with fancied Strategy heading those following close behind. Mr Morrison seemed focused and stuck to the inner rails and once they turned for home, jockey Mahesh gave him the go. Mr Morrison unleashed a fiery to shut out the opposition and score a resounding victory clocking under the minute, the fastest timing on the day and with the widest margin as well. Strategy ended a good 5 lengths plus behind the winner while favourite Xenia was another 1 3/4L away.

Savage Garden (Inhabitant – Rose Garden) dished out his best to win the 2000m race without encountering any challenge. His start to finish essay was briefly interrupted when Fajr made a dash forward to go on a sprinting extravagance. Fajr took over from Savage Garden and in a frenzy galloped away to a huge lead only to tire at the turn. Savage Garden was in charge as they entered the straight and he marched on ahead all the way to outlast her opponents and score a facile victory. Senor Hill ran on to end second. Milano Green ended an unimpressive third.

Pezzonovante (Oath – Starynessey) won the opening day of the race with a spirited gallop towards the finish. She first had to clear a substantial deficit when Be Cool took over from Windmill Lady and surged ahead. Pezzonovante finished on full of running to catch Be Cool in the final 100 and had enough to counter a late bid from By The Way.

For the Professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff and S Zervan scored a double each.