Manyatta (Rebuttal – Picture Show) trained by M Narredu rose to the occasion in a splendid manner and fought off a determined late bid from Blue Ace to clinch the Tata Housing Turf Championship in a thrilling finish. Full marks to jockey DK Ashish who seems to have gained tremendous confidence. He rode a peach of a race to snatch what looked an improbable victory when they were all charging in the straight.

Manyatta was the last one to turn in along with Hemisphere and he was stuck on the inner rails. The passage was nonexistent as Montezuma, Winds of Fortune, Blue Ace and Ranthambhore were all tearing in to make their final run. Ashish was looking to switch to the outside, but instinctively moved to the riskier way, trying to invent room between horses. The wise old adage – ‘Luck favours the brave’ yet again proved spot on as Ashish found the narrowest of gaps between Winds of Fortune and Montezuma. Ashish wasn’t going to wait for a second invitation. He ploughed through the small gap and brought Manyatta to the fore. Once clear, Manyatta obliged in a scintillating fashion and burst through into the lead. Blue Ace provided a game challenge but Manyatta and Ashish were resolute in their effort and safely nosed the wire keeping a gallant Blue Ace at bay.

Winds of Fortune did very well to run a good third ahead of Ranthambhore. Onassis too got entangled behind horses and by the time he broke free and tried to give it the full throttle, it was all over. Onassis finished in the bunch – one off the frame. Hemisphere disappointed as he came in wide but failed to quicken in time and finished in the rut.

The Division II of the Dady Adenwalla Trophy was a real humdinger with a three pronged finish involving well-backed horses striving hard to make their mark. The betting honours were shared between Campeon, Mint Approach and to a lesser extent on Isadoro.  Mint Approach was on a start to finish mission and the grim fight began midway in the homestretch.

Mint Approach was joined by Campeon who made the first bid and the challenger seemed to be gaining on the leader. Campeon even headed Mint Approach and it looked like he was right on course to register his first win. Mint Approach fought well and snatched back the lead and as the pair battled on, Isadoro produced a sizzling gallop to finish with a flourish. Campeon was accounted for, but at the wire it was a blinder involving Mint Approach and Isadoro. The judge took his time before declaring a dead-heat between Mint Approach and Isadoro. Both horses deserved to win and the eventual result was pure justice. Campeon will live to fight another day as he ended just half a length behind the pair.   

Set To Fly (Home Affairs – Set the Mood) provided an encore while winning the JP Vazifdar Trophy. She raced right up in front on the tail of front running Catharsis and encountered only a brief resistance from Catharsis while wresting the lead. Once into the lead, Set To Fly pulled away to score an easy victory. Catharsis did well to hold to the second spot, foiling a determined bid from Augustus who tried to wrench it from him. Winston did not end too far away. Jimbo started the race badly taking a fly jump and was never in the reckoning.

Sporting owner Vijay Shirke’s horses gave him the pleasure of walking to lead in winners thrice in the day. The beginning itself was auspicious for Mr Shirke as he struck in the day’s first two races.

His four year old gelding Roswald (Placerville – Avec Plaisir), trained by Shroff, thumped the opposition to provide an encore with as much conviction as he did last time out. Jockey Zervan took the initiative to hit the front soon on start and brushed up past Work of Honour to set the tone. Swift Memories and Starring raced further behind in a single file. Roswald showed no signs of relenting once they entered the straight and kicked on gamely to spurt further away in a majestic fashion. Starring tried hard but simply couldn’t come with anything worthwhile. IN fact, Swift Memories pegged him back for the second spot. Starring did raise a good gallop towards the finish, but just could not sustain.

In the very next race, Shirke’s Capri (Ace – Yutai), after causing some anxious moments at the gates as he sat down inside and was subject to the Vet’s examination. Cleared, he ran a hard race to notch up his maiden victory in a fighting encounter with the second in demand Gottawearshades.

Capri jumped out well and settled in the second position behind leader Starsonboard with Toptrick, Adams Vision and Gottawearshades following closely. Starsonboard led them well into the straight and Capri warmed up nicely to challenge the leader approaching the distance post. Gottawearshades too started to close in as Capri shot into the lead. Capri shifted out sharply inside the final furlong but jockey Trevor was quick to keep him from drifting on. Gottawearshades switched course and moved inwards but Capri galloped on to score her maiden victory almost untroubled.

Shirke’s third was MK Jadhav saddled Brunello (Alnasr Alwasheek – Blue Horizon) who won him the Mauritius Tourism Cup. Settling in the fourth or fifth spot early on, Brunello made an early charge soon on turning for home. He easily galloped past Star Builder who led them in, and marched ahead with authority. Zanthos also started improving positions and was soon on the haunches of Brunello. Reinstate moved out from the rails and started to close in on the pair in front. Brunello never let his guard down as jockey A Sandesh powered him on to stay ahead at the winning post with both Zanthos and Reinstate breathing down his neck.

Jockey P Trevor who had ridden well to win partnering Capri and Isadoro was not done yet. He guided rank outsider Star Fire Lady (Alnasr Alwasheek – Star Role) to an eye-popping victory to claim the Rajcoomar Gujadhur Memorial Trophy.    

Favourite Novak was hunting right from the start and had galloped to a sizable lead coming into the homestretch. Star Fire Lady was chasing him all the way. Novak enjoyed the lead only until the early half of the straight and caved in meekly when Star Fire Lady challenged him approaching the distance post. Once into the lead, Star Fire Lady did not relent and she in fact grew stronger at the finish. With Novak gone, Light My Way tried hard but found the winner too good. Queen came from behind to pip Light My Way for the second and Perfect Strength beat Novak to a place in the frame.

Dr Vijay Mallya’s Acclaimed (Burden of Proof – Alnasreya) was well backed at race time and justified the support to return winner on debut. Malcolm Kharadi never seemed to be in a hurry and timed his run to perfection to wrest the race that looked in the firm grasp of Tahrir.  

Baroness had led until into the straight and Tahrir was visibly gaining on her past the 400. Tahrir got past Baroness without encountering any resistance and even worked up a small lead. Acclaimed who was fourth until the turn, improved to third soon on straightening up and began drawing closer to Tahrir in the last 100 meters. However, Acclaimed gathered a lot of speed in the final few strides and had enough momentum going to make a good impact on debut. Acclaimed was well handled by Kharadi, who was patient with him initially and astutely settled the nerves if there was any. He made gradual progress with her and made his final bid at just the right time to pull off a well planned victory.

Aliyana (Glory of Dancer – Dam I’m Gorgeous) displaced her potential speed by coasting to a start-to-finish victory in the day’s concluding race. She shot into the front and kept going at a good clip all through to bring about a deserving victory. Sariska who chased the winner all the way, tried her best to match strides in the straight, but just could not raise her game to the extent required. She ended following Aliyana who pulled off a comfortable win. Josephine finished on well to earn place money.

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff was the lone trainer to score a double. Jockeys P Trevor and A Sandesh rode home two winners each other than the dead-heat.