The Mumbai Season 2010-11 started on an auspicious note with the followers of money reaping a rich harvest, as form horses obliged in most races. Barring the Naren bombshell Chingari in The Starynsky Plate, the rest eight races saw fancied horses come to the fore. Ciel Indienne (Burdon Of Proof – Ciel Fleuri) couldn’t have had a better start when he galloped away to a start-to-finish in The Maharaja Of Morvi Trophy, the feature of the first day’s races.

As the gates flung open Ocean Star whirled awkwardly forcing jockey Trevor off the saddle. The lad landed on his feet fortunately and simply walked to safety. Ciel Indienne, the joint favourite along with Sunset Boulevard, hit the front and settled into a comfortable rhythm. Sunset Boulevard chased him close behind with Royal Highness and Ocean Emperor not too far away. Ciel Indienne came in home first and kept the momentum going.

Sunset Boulevard came up to his hind quarters and even Royal Highness tried to match strides. The trio were almost alongside with a furlong to go. However, Ciel Indienne marched on regardless of the dual challenge and in the final fifty, surged further ahead to a spare a length to Sunset Boulevard, who fought bravely to the end. Royal Highness was right up there but failed to sustain and ended a tame third. Sunset Boulevard was squarely beaten and Ciel Indienne was finally rewarded for his fine consistency.

Jockey CD Hayes, who is retained to ride for the Mallya camp, was flawless and trainer Dallas Todywalla has done well in keeping his charge Ciel Indienne in fine fettle all through. Sunset Boulevard missed out on making this one count, but will surely strike soon. The Mathradas Goculdas Trophy was of great relevance as Moonlight Romance was making a reappearance on the track after a longish break.

Having won the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby this summer, the Cooji Katrak ward is one to look forward to in the forthcoming Classics. The bookmakers too thought she was hard to go down and quoted her at cramped odds of 30/100. Moonlight Romance (China Visit – Wandering Star) had an easy outing and it is heartening to note that she won in the top class without any fuss.

Sitting second behind White Knight, Moonlight Romance was a bit too keen and jockey Suraj Narredu had to hold her in check. Weizhou had Ecstatica on his inside and Misschevious Trot was a close last.

White Knight found Moonlight Romance too hot to handle and meekly surrendered his lead. Moonlight Romance took the lead and soon had Weizhou asking questions on her haunches. Weizhou appeared to make a fight of it, but Moonlight Romance was simply toying with her senior rival. She soon sped ahead and won stretching away without Suraj having to use the whalebone even once! This is an impressive start to the most important phase of her career and Moonlight Romance only enhanced her reputation with this facile victory.

Snow Blaze (China Visit – Snow Tiger) won the other important race of the day, The Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy (VI Bart) Trophy for maiden two-year-olds. The grey colt from Dallas Todywalla’s yard was a hot ante-post favourite at half-money, but the odds kept going up and at race time Snow Blaze was offered at 6 to 4 against. Regardless of the goings-on in the betting ring, Snow Blaze set about his task right on the button. He darted to the lead and never looked back. The only cause for concern was at the business end when Greatness came alongside the leader.

Snow Blaze shook him off alright but suddenly veered out alarmingly, across the width of the turf. Luckily, jockey Hayes managed to steady him and guide him past the winning post for his maiden win. Indomitable garnered a lot of support and was the main reason for the odds to go up on the favourite. However, she did little justice to the faith and took a lot of her backers’ money down the drain. She was a touch slow on the jump and then never raised any effective gallop while ending last of four.

Beautiful Stranger (Glory Of Dancer – Double Wish) finally came good and won his first assignment without much apprehension. Amberogio made the early running with Bullet and Beautiful Stranger in close attendance, Lago Medio was lagging behind till the turn. Bullet took charge coming into the straight and was travelling well. Beautiful Stranger started to match strides to challenge the new leader. The duo fought briefly, but in the final 100 meters Beautiful Stranger put in a powerful burst and drew away to compile a welcome victory.

Dancing Glances (Placerville – Dancing Greens) made ample amends for her Pune failure and thrashed the opposition with complete disdain. The field of nine was closely huddled and Awesomeness entered the straight just ahead of a progressing Dancing Glances. The Altaf Hussain trainee lunged ahead early in the straight and once ahead never looked in danger. She bounded ahead with gigantic strides and surged clear to post a convincing victory by a widening margin.

Awesomeness ended a tame second, comprehensively beaten by the winner. Solar Angel (Senure – Sun Worship) was heavily backed and the followers of the favourite couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. The Faisal Abbas-trained filly ridden by Sandesh produced a scintillating burst in the homestretch and romped home to a terrific win. Settling into the fourth behind Geisha, Kimaya and close rival Ocean Touch, Solar Angel switched course to come from the outside with a sizzling gallop to shoot away from the trio. Ocean Touch looked good until the winner arrived on the scene and then was completely overwhelmed in the final furlong. Solar Touch was simply too good for this opposition.

Chingari (Ontario – Miss Formidare) upset all calculations and shocked the field with a late dash to the winning post. Constantina, the favourite from trainer Pesi Shroff’s yard, looked set to score when jockey Zervan unleashed her with just a furlong to go. Until then, Costantina was travelling comfortably, well in hand. She surged forward past the distance post only to be surprised by Chingari who flew towards the end to clinch the race in the last fifty. Wilna ran on to finish third while Frost Fairy led until Constanita took over early in the straight. Scarlette once again disappointed and she was the third favourite from Shroff’s yard to bite the dust.

Illustrious (Emerald Cat – Splendid) sailed into the lead soon on settling down with Amore Mio, Prince Lochinva, Highland Vision and Scarlette in close order. Icon and Star Empire were a bit tardy at the star and raced in the rear, close with bunch. On turning for home, Illustrious gathered momentum and shot ahead to extend her lead. She was well clear passing the 400 m marker and snuffed out the fight from her rivals. Illustrious, ridden by Dashrath Singh galloped on gamely to score an emphatic victory. Scarlette struggled to even reduce the margin and ended a tame second. Icon covered ground on the wide outside to end in the money, just ahead of Star Empire.

Caribbean Queen was the only saving grace for the top trainer Pesi Shroff who saw all his fancied runners not making it to the winners’ enclosure. Caribbean Queen (Steinbeck – Dazzling Queen) wove her way to the rails and sat third behind Ocean Trail and Royal Gesture. Proud Star got a bad check nearing the 800 and fell back to last. On turning for home, Ocean Trail began to accelerate, but Caribbean Queen moved smoothly through her inside and went past. Starry Ocean also started to warm up, but Caribbean Queen by then had a sizable lead. Starry Ocean went all out in chase but Caribbean Queen was always in command and Zervan ensured that he opened his account for the season with a stylish victory. For the professionals, trainers Dallas Todywalla and jockeys CD Hayes and A Sandesh scored a double each.