Dr Vijay Mallya owned Colourful Prince (Burden of Proof – Color Me Red) trained by Dallas Todywalla scored a facile victory in the hands of jockey P Trevor to shake off his maiden status and score a facile victory in his third career start. Colourful Prince shot out of the gates and was quick to sail into the lead. Rio, the joint favourite along with Colourful Prince was not as quick and was too far back in the fifth or sixth position and with the brilliance that Colourful Prince showed, it was a lost cause for Rio long before the finish.

It was Colourful Prince all the way as Trevor stylishly brought him into the straight and kept him on tight reins. Modus Vivendi who was in chase, had nothing exception to offer and was not gaining anything to impress the leader. Ace Angel Fire made slight headway along the rails, while Rio was seen covering ground from the outside. Rio did pick up momentum, but he was no threat as Colourful Prince didn’t let his guard down and marched on majestically to score an impressive victory, clocking under the minute to earn his winning bracket on his own terms. Colourful Prince dominated the race from the start and held his own at the finish. He completely outpaced Rio who never looked threatening at any stage.  

The consistency shown by Swift Memories (Major Impact – Memories of You) all through the season paid off at the fag end of season. Never off the board in her six starts this season, Swift Memories was sent out on a start to finish mission, her favourite pattern even over the longer trips. She free-wheeled her way to a handy lead and at a decent pace. Hidden Goodness was in tow with Mountain Force, Cogito Ergo Sum and favourite Capital Attraction following in single file.

As they turned for home, Swift Memories encountered a stiff challenge from outsider Hidden Goodness. Capital Attraction, who had lost about five-lengths at the start, had closed in to be in touch with the duo. However, at the business end, Capital Attraction looked spent and had nothing to offer going down surprisingly tamely.

Swift Memories was now fighting hard with Hidden Goodness putting in a determined bid. The pair battled stride for stride and with 100 to go, it looked anybody’s race. It was in the last fifty meters that jockey NS Parmar got that little extra out of Swift Memories that saw them surging forward to etch out a narrow win at the wire.

Jockey NS Parmar then partnered Soneeyo (Placerville – Difficult Doll) in the very next race to an exciting and well-fought win in a three way finish, to score his first back-to-back double this season in Mumbai. Nush settled into second about four lengths behind the leader. Seven Seas, Aigaion and Soneeyo were a distance behind. Turning the corner, Sun Salutation had little left in the tank and Nush had not trouble getting past to take charge with around 300 to go. Aigaion began a desperate surge forward and tore his way between horses. Soneeyo picked up speed and joined Nush on the outside with Aigaion rallying on the inside of Nush. The three raced past the wire together with Soneeyo just a neck head. 

Jockey DK Ashish took an objection stating that Soneeyo tightened Nush who in turn forced him to check and the verdict being as narrow, he would certainly have won the race but for the tightening. The objection was overruled.

A tragic incident in the Pradeep Vijayakar  Trophy Div II saw favourite Baroness drop the rider (Sandesh) as she stumbled and went lame even as she was shaping for victory. Baroness was leading the field coming into the final furlong and stumbled seconds before the winning post. Mykonos, who was right behind Baroness escaped miraculously with jockey Shelar showing presence of mind and moving out of harm’s way. Fontenelle too was in the path and had to check her run. Before she could recover from her halted strides, To The Manor Born came in with unhindered gallop to speed past and score a fine victory on debut. Sandesh emerged unharmed after that terrible fall and rode two winners later in the day. Baroness however, was not as fortunate and returned lame.  

Que Sera Sera (Pure Prize – Cozumel) was backed with confidence and conviction and the Adhirajsingh Jodha- trained colt, obliged in style. Neptune and Ice Age were disputing the lead with Que Sera Sera carrying the top weight settling well behind in the sixth spot, but tucked in with the front-bunch. He took the turn wide and understandable so as the front runners were closely clustered.

Ice Age took charge with Neptune staying close behind. Novak came under pressure and was not making any impact. Que Sera Sera then started to cover ground and although he was well behind Ice Age coming into the final furlong, he was looming large and it was a matter of time before he caught up with Ice Age. He did so in the final fifty and won a lot easier than the verdict suggests.  

Mountain Wind (Placerville – Cambridge Ball) sprung a surprise as the 20-1 shot was ridden hard by jockey SP Ranjane to keep the rest at bay and chalk out a convincing victory. Mountain Wind went past Diamond Zip entering the straight to take over the running. Home Factor was in chase and favourite Stolen Relic was taking his time getting into top gear. Ranjane ensured that Mountain Wind did not slacken after building up a handy lead and headed off the competition with timely reminders. Stolen Relic had conceded far too much to try and make a fight of it and in the end resigned to take the second spot. Menage A Trois ran on to finish in the money.

Sandesh, who had drawn a blank in the early half of the day, made it count in the end to spruce his chances of landing the jockey’s championship title scoring in the last two races. He partnered the MK Jadhav trained Grand Duke (Holy Roman Emperor – Carefree Cheetah) to a closely fought duel with fancied Went worth.

Carlton House had barely taken over from Blue Bay on entering the straight, when Grand Duke sailed past at a good clip. Wentworth, who was not in the best of positions coming into the homestretch, moved up with good strides to get alongside his main rival. The duo battled through the final furlong and the rest were left grappling for the minor places. Grand Duke always held the upper hand and Wentworth went down fighting. Had Wentworth been in a better position coming into the straight, he could have got closer. But having given that advantage away as Grand Duke was in box seat at the top of the straight, it was always going to be a tough ask for Wentworth. Sandesh tightened his grip over the race and sustained it all the way to provide Grand Duke his much needed maiden win. Wentworth too ran a good race and will bide his time for his turn.

Sandesh signed off with another thrilling victory partnering Mountbatten (Rock of Gibraltar – Sharatila) to score a well-backed double coming in the last two races. Mountbatten and Wish Upon A Star were the joint favourites, both quoted at 2/1 apiece.  As they jumped out, Hay Day got going and led them in the initial stages. Wish Upon a Star was quick to settled alongside Hay Day. There was a jostle for position behind and with a bit of knocking around Valorosky, Purple Mokara and Mountbatten roughed it up to take the next three positions. Il Moran suffered a bit and dropped back to the last position, a wee bit detached from the field. He made solid recovery to weave his way between horses and switching lanes to end an impressive third.

Meanwhile, at the front, Hay Day was in command as the heads turned for home. Purple Mokara moved into second while Wish Upon a Star was under pressure to stay in contention. Mountbatten was showing his preparedness and picked up speed on straightening up, but still had some catching up to do. With a little over a furlong to go, Purple Mokara was scrambling desperately towards the winning post enjoying a slight advantage over the rest. Mountbatten appeared on the scene with a strong run and the two battled out the last 100 meters. In the end, Sandesh got the measure of the bravely fighting Purple Mokara to wrest the issue close home.

For the professionals, trainers MK Jadhav and Dallas Todywalla saddled a double each. Jockeys Sandesh, Trevor and NS Parmar scored a brace each.