Alaindair (Multidimensional – God’s Grace, Usha Stud) bounced back to winning ways claiming the Byram Jeejeeebhoy Eclipse Stakes of India (Gr2) with absolute ease. Circle of Life, who was expected to make a fight of it, found the champion too good on the day.

Alaindair made light of the two ‘ladies’ in the field of three winning effortlessly. He settled behind leader Sheer Class while, Circle of Bliss, who was off slowly, rallied quickly but stayed in the rear until the final turn.

Sheer Class succumbed soon after turning for home as Alaindair strode past him to take charge. Jockey YS Srinath had little to do as Alaindair, showing the spark of last year, burst into the lead and galloped away on tight reins. Srinath just niggled the winner of last year’s Indian Derby and Invitation Cup, and the champ simply drew away to score a fashionable victory. Circle of Bliss moved past Sheer Class midway in the straight, but could not match the brilliance of Alaindair. The pace of the race being extremely slow in the initial stages, Alaindiar’s timing – 2:06:35 did not look impressive. However, his manner of victory and the subtle aggression he showed at the business end certainly showed that trainer Altamash Ahmed has brought him back to his best, right on time for the Invitation Cup. With this year’s Invitation cup already boasting of being a high voltage battle with the Be Safe-Amazing Grace confrontation, Alaindair comes in as the third force to add more spice to the great contest on the 1st of March 2015.

Dancing Prances (Ace – Dancing Greens, Poonawalla Stud) carved out yet another victory taking his career win tally to nine, fifth on the trot, building an aura of invincibility around him over the six-furlong sprint. He won almost ‘as he liked’ but for a gritty challenge from rank outsider Brynhill, who added the surprise element to the fast and furious thriller.

Rosie Sunshine showed the early dash to lead the field with Solomon and Brynhill tagging alongside. Dancing Prances settled about three lengths behind the trio with Bullseye stalking him. Nefyn and the others followed in a close cluster.

Solomon took charge briefly on turning for home with Brynhill looking prominent on his outside. Dancing Prances was still on cruise mode with 400 to go. Bullseye and Nefyn were right behind. Brynhill got past Solomon with surprising ease and bolted towards the winning post. Dancing Prances set about in chase approaching the distance post. Brynhill galloped on with all his might and although jockey Sandesh astride Dancing Prances may not have been on panic mode, Brynhill certainly had him concerned coming into the final furlong. Sandesh however, rode out vigorously to collar Brynhill close home and carve out a narrow victory. Bullseye finished a faraway third, just managing to hold Nefyn for the place money.

Zachary (Kingda Ka – Yantai, Capricorn Stud) ran true to form and galloped to his fourth career win from seven starts. The half-money favourite was right up in the front bunch and surged to the lead soon on turning for home. Jockey P Trevor took off past the 400m mark and Zachary bounded forward showing plenty of speed. Silver Streak moved up to challenge and was closing in, however, Zachary stood up to it and galloped on to smother the challenger. Mr Gorgeous finished with a late brilliance to knock off Silver Streak for the runner-up berth, but did not have enough steam to question Zachary’s superiority. 

The Hello! Classic brought in the glamour quotient to the lively Champion’s Day with cine star Eleana D’Cruz hogging the attention. On the track however, Draco was the hero.

It was a disastrous start for favourite Goldilocks who was a tad lethargic and then to make things worse, was squeezed on the inner rails causing a bad check and she found herself detached from the field of 13. Although she had staged a marvelous recovery from the rear to win on her debut, a similar resurgence was out of question this time.

Out in the front, Essence of Love led the field homewards and he had a bunch of horses snapping at his tail. Draco and Don Corleone rose from the mid-bunch to go at each other at a tear away clip. The duo battled hard and stride for stride. Don Corleone had gained a slender upper hand with less than a furlong to go, but jockey Dashrath Singh atop Draco was not the one to give up easily. His persistent efforts inspired Draco to respond with another last ditch effort and he snatched back the lead to nose out the Don in a scintillating finish. Savannah Sound wriggled out from the middle to take the third spot from Rubens. Goldilocks staged a fairly good recovery in the end, to finish one off the frame.

The JM Mehta Million provided a keen finish with three of the four in the fray battling hard and taking the fight all the way to the wire. Spirited Touch found himself in front as neither Golden Belle nor on-money favourite Bullrun were interested to go to the front and settled behind Spirited Touch. Flying Dragon could maintain the tempo only until the turn and fell back soon after. 

Spirited Touch galloped on and held to his lead well beyond the early half of the long Mumbai straight. Golden Belle (Ace – Abs Fabs, Poonawalla Stud), who had raced along the inside rails, switched lanes and started to warm up approaching the distance post. Bullrun looked a bit at sea and was taking time to get into the top gear. Meanwhile, Spirited Touch was fighting hard resisting Golden Belle’s challenge. With a hundred to go, Bullrun too found her focus and surged in to join the battle. The trio hit the wire together and it was Golden Belle with Yash Narredu in the saddle who managed to edge out both rivals in a close finish. Bullrun, but for that crucial blemish, improved well towards the end clearly indicating that she needed this run. Spirited touch fought gallantly to end a head behind Bullrun.

Arrivedirci (Medicean – Tetisheri, Kunigal Stud) shook off her maiden status with an impressive showing in only her second run. She galloped readily to the front with jockey P Trevor guiding her to do just the right things at the right time. She dictated the terms all the way and led them into the straight on a tight rein.

Trevor gave her the signal only after Fireproof arrived up to Arrivedrici’s tail. He then goaded the Shroff trained filly on and Arrivedirci galloped on relentlessly. Fireproof was all out in her effort to topple the leader, but Arrivederci showed solid resolve in keeping her lead all the way and score a well-fought victory. Santa Ana kicked on to finish in the money.

Jack Frost (Kingda Ka – Breeze and I, Nanoli Stud) had been knocking on the door for a while now and has certainly missed out on win at least on one occasion in Pune. This time he pulled it off for his sporting owner Mr Peter Deubet and his partners, with a reassuring finish. Jack Frost followed hawker and Classic Moment all the way into the straight, with Honest Pleasure trailing in the rear.

Classic Moment seemed to be traveling very well as she cruised past Hawker with minimum effort. Jack Frost was already being ridden out to surge ahead. Jockey Sandesh got Jack Frost picking up speed with every stride and in the final furlong, Jack Frost had got the measure of Classic Moment. Jack Frost then tore away to score gallantly and justify the miserly 6/10 on odds offered in the ring.

Trainer Rehanullah Khan’s Tap Dance (Glory of Dancer – Splash of Class, Nanoli Stud) brought about his maiden win in a dramatic fashion, rising from some distance away to finish with a flourish. Praelector had stolen a march coming into the straight and was building on the handy lead. Past the distance post, Praelector still enjoyed a good lead. Tap Dance started to cover ground briskly and with 100 to go he was coming at the leader with giant strides. Melinda woke up far too late, but when she did, she too arrived with a storming run. However, her blaze could not do enough to reap full rewards as Tap Dance just managed to crane his neck in front and the winning post too came to his rescue. For Melinda, it was another unfortunate miss after her reversal on objection last time out. Moneywise too finished on fast as did The Unicorn. The latter bears watching next time out.

For the professionals, jockeys P Trevor and A Sandesh scored a double each.