The foreign boys continued their domination in the Mahalaxmi track, winning eight out of the ten races slated for Wednesday. Daniel Grant seems to wield a magic wand in place of a whip and has kept the race goers spellbound with his stupendous show thus far this season. River Chieftain and Successor both looked suspect towards the business end of the race. But the Grant ‘magic’ seemed to have cast its spell on the horses as well and the equine athletes picked themselves up just in time and Grant pulled out a couple of victories from the ‘hat’ causing a mesmerizing effect all around the race course!It was not as if Daniel’s four mounts for the day were taken for ‘granted’ to win. Only Successor, among his riding engagements, was a clear favourite. Paris Hilton was fancied, but was clearly beaten by a superior horse. Sea Queen was being tested for the first time without much hope. River Chieftain did not figure in the first three out of the five runners on the bookmakers’ charts. He was, in fact, contesting against a couple of heavily fancied runners. The NM Irani Trophy was Danny’s first mount for the day. Bruckner and The Pearl cornered most of the support. Cambiasso was pushed into the lead and was followed by the favourite Bruckner. River Chieftain, Mighty Crusader and The Pearl followed close behind. Into the straight, Brucker who was looking menacing on the outside soon joined Cambiasso and the two fought out the issue all the way. The Pearl shifted out and took Mighty Crusader along and this pair kept drifting closer to the outer railing. At the distance post, it appeared a two-way fight between the Shroff stablemates with Cambiasso displaying better fighting qualities though under some severe punishment. Grant then got River Chieftain (Placerville–Saffron Dancer) to come alive and the Sunderji ward responded with a purposeful gallop to simply breeze past the fighting duo with complete disdain to post an authoritative win. That was a splendid coming-from-behind exhibition when just 100 metres earlier the focus was on the fight in front. Successor (Ontario–Lakes Of Kilamey), who was crowned the first juvenile ‘millionaire’ during his debut year (2008), was appearing on the race track after ten months. He did not race through the Pune season and that was not an ideal induction to a race particular as a hot on money favourite! His past laurels and current track work convinced most bettors that he was still a money-spinner the ‘half money’ quote of the bookies notwithstanding. Successor adopts the “take jump hit front” tactics and Grant just let him do his thing. The Cooji Katrak trainee looked completely at ease showing no signs of any rustiness whatsoever. Into the straight, Successor looked comfortably ahead; only until Almarina made a strong bid midway up the homestretch. When Grant felt the threatening presence of Almarina, he got downright busy on the colt and it was a good to say two stalwarts – Grant and local Champ Malesh involved in a brilliant fight. Unfortunately, Almarina bled sometime during those heated moments, else the finish would have been closer than the neck verdict and possibly in her favour too! However, the ‘Grant’ factor loomed large and Successor clocked a nippy 59.10 for the five-furlong sprint. The fact that Successor made a smashing return is indeed a commendable effort on Katrak’s part. David Allan started the day with a bang scoring in the first two races. Stefano from trainer Antia’s yard was the lone horse in the betting and won handsomely. Sitting in close touch of Ratnavali, Stefano (Warrshan–Game Girl) spurted ahead past the 400 and kicked on without encountering any resistance from his rivals. Ratnavali who attempted it start-to-finish did well to keep the rest at bay. Veera Wang (Alnasr Alwasheek–Merry Lea) needed just the last run to be battle-ready and put in a strong finishing effort to upset the applecart of Salve Regina after appeared to be a brief fight in the final furlong. Cavaradosi led the field homewards but once in the straight, Salve Ragina who was sitting on the rails put in a stiff challenge nearing the distance post. Veera Wang, meanwhile, was gathering momentum and looked the strongest from the moment she was put into top gear by Allan. The Altaf Hussain filly looked a winner even before she passed Salve Ragina and won impressively albeit with a narrow ¾ length margin. Trainer Altaf Hussain scored again later in the day with Sheikha (Placerville–Queen Ernest) in the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Trophy. Settling right behind the favourite Carmen, Sheikha always had the measure of the favourite and passed him with gigantic strides soon past the 400, without any assistance from the jockey CD Hayes. Sheikha’s blaze was tremendous and she looks to be an extremely talented sprinter. Clocking the best timing for the day (58.78) on her first run and that too effortlessly speaks a great deal about her speed and agility. Carmen and company were simply outclassed and Sheikha is the one who will be a prominent sprinter in the future. She also has a lot of class and bigger success is surely bound to come her way. Sheikha on her debut has raised the bar for herself. Secret Pilgrim won the Rajpipla Trophy with consummate ease. Going over her pet distance, Secret Pilgrim (Alnasr Alwasheek–Star Spangled), stalked the leader Tigress Noire until they turned for home. Once into the straight, Secret Pilgrim moved past Tigress Noire without the jockey loosening the grip on the reins and surged towards the winning post with awesome ease, to give trainer Imtiaz Sait a back-to-back double. Call To Arms ran on to be second. In the earlier race, Premier Queen made light of the top weight (61 kilos) to post as easy a victory as did Secret Pilgrim. Paris Hilton attracted some last minute betting heavy enough for the bookmakers to shoot up the price on the ‘Queen’ to nearly twice as much against the morning quote. True to the trend, Paris Hilton hit the front and went all out till the end and beat everyone but the winner. Premier Queen (Placerville–Frost Queen) literally cantered past the hard working Paris Hilton working up neither sweat nor toil! This was a solid performance and Premier Queen displayed that she is in top condition. The foreign boys may have swept away most of the races but the jockey of the day, for me, was C. Rajendra. His ride astride Princess Ruby was astounding and that he actually made up a heavy deficit to come from the dead and win, was truly a remarkable feat. Not getting the best of starts, Princess Ruby (Conquering Hero–Natural Spell) was last of the eight runners (Fantasy Lake was withdrawn) for most of the early part. Sepia Tone entered the homestretch and was lingering on. Daffodils looked like making progress but failed to quicken. El Banduq was the one to shape up well in the final furlong. Meanwhile, Rajendra who had never seized to push vigorously on Princess Ruby right from start, seemed too far back and too wide to make any impression on the front-runners, particularly El Banduq as they galloped for the final furlong. However, Rajendra riding with the never-say-die attitude, flew in the final 100 to get the decisive nod at the wire to win by a neck! Kudos to Rajendra for literally snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. This race was another testimony to the fact that the long Mumbai straight is very fair and gives every horse a reasonable chance to recover from the rear. Trainer Siraj Sunderji got his second winner of the day when Courage Under Fire lived up to his name to post a brave victory. Modesty threatened to run away with the race and in the straight was looking positive. Chopasni came in to fight but near the distance post, Courage Under Fire (Major Impact–Stylish Bird) warmed up nicely to sew up the issue in the final furlong. Courage Under Fire knocked the fight out of the front-runners and coasted to an impressive win. Fidel Defensor (Royal Gladiator–Mistica) won the last race leading from the start. The favourite, Wings of Angels was never prominent and made no impact at all. The Giant who was well in touch with the leader did well to end a stubborn second warding of Strike It Rich for the runner up berth but was ineffective on the winner. Shanghai Girl had a good forward run initially, but failed to drive home the advantage. Arabian Power moved up a few notches to find a place in the frame.