The Gool S Poonawalla Million (Grade 3) over 1,200 metres had only six contestants in the fray. The small field notwithstanding, the quality of runners was very high. Bee Quick (Fargeat), after her runaway victory on debut, was the raging choice to land the spoils. Kiara and Aurora Aurealis have been consistent and Successor with two impressive wins made the contest an interesting one. It looked such an open race that but for the odds-on favourite, other contenders were nourishing. As the starter ordered them out, Successor (Appu), true to his style, hit the front; Fire Within followed close behind, with Aurora Aurealis in tow. Then came Flaming Ace with Bee Quick, and Kiara, for the first time, chose to race in the rear – an alarming strategy indeed, considering that the filly always raced up front. The ploy proved impeccable as Kiara, ridden to perfection by Champion rider Rajendra, worked her way along the rails and got the measure of Successor who was a good couple of lengths in the lead. Kiara sailed past the leader inside the final furlong and won drawing away with surprising ease. Successor was second best while none of the others made an impact. Bee Quick bled, thus had no chance, but Aurora Aurealis was the biggest disappointment. The Vinayak filly was way off-key and after a couple of fighting displays amongst high-class competition, ran much below par. Kiara got her proud owners – Ms Christaline Glenn and Mehernosh Deboo the glittering trophy and a rich purse of just under Rs 8.5 lakh. The day's first two races saw horrifying incidents where jockeys fell off in the homestretch. In the first race, jockey N. Rawal had a fall in front of the stands and luckily there was no one following him. The fall has rendered the jockey out of action for some time now. Cabinda won the race in a fairly fought-out finish. Cocaine lost his chances by going wide and erratic while Shaktiman only threatened but never quickened enough to make a race of it. The second race was where a major accident marred the proceedings. Premier Diva led the field past the 400-metre mark and Uruj the favourite was just being asked to quicken and was responding. Just then, Primier Diva (Nadeem) buckled and fell dropping the rider. Uruj collided with Premier Diva trying to regain and also fell. Benfica, who was right behind, banged right into Uruj and that brought the third horse down. Tommy Carmichael (Neeraj) was the lone survivor from the front bunch as he narrowly missed hitting Premier Diva and the horse jumped over Nadeem who was flat on the turf. Tommy Carmichael went on to win. Only jockey Aadesh Kumar escaped unhurt. Nadeem, who hurt his head, in under observation and jockey TS Jodha has a dislocated collar bone. The incident could have been much worse. Ptolemy (Kharadi) showed no signs of rustiness as he kicked on from start to finish and was even stronger at the finish. As they turned for home, the front bunch huddled closely and a tight finish looked inevitable. Ptolemy, Toofan Mail, Queens Court and Sparta were all ready to strike. Ptolemy, close on the rails, accelerated to go in front; Toofan Mail and Queens Court were under pressure. Sparta was the one to make an impression on the leader. However, he could get only to Ptolemy's hind quarters as Kharadi sped ahead with telling strides and stave off the brief challenge without any difficulty. Rising Emperor came from behind to run into place money pegging back Toofan Mail close home. Amberogio was the popular choice, and the Lagad trainee let down a large following. Everybody Counts (Fargeat) and Green Valley were in joint lead with Catalyst following on the rails. Aberogio was close up with them; then came Dance Maestro, Golden Spurs and Gypsy Queen. Into the straight, Fargeat curved gingerly, the fall of jockeys evidently had caused an impact on most riders. Catalyst, taking advantage of the rails, run shot ahead; Ambrogio gave a chase but could not match strides. Dance Maestro began his challenge from the inside and Golden Spurs came on under some sustained riding from Amyn Merchant. However, Catalyst was in no mood to relent and held on easily from Dance Maestro and Golden Spurs. Ambrogio took the last place in the frame. Blade Runner (Narredu) shot into the lead and was going pretty well till after the turn. Salve Regina, who was following a couple of lengths behind, looked under pressure, but Fargeat got him going near the distance post. The Nosher Cama trainee forced her way in front and bounded ahead giving no chance whatsoever to the late finishing Blue Mountain (Rajendra). Yankee Lane (Merchant) was erratic and running green all the way in the homestretch, yet got the place money ahead of Indian Summer. Blue Mountain and the winner impressed and are the ones to note. Blade Runner was not at his best. Red Indian and Carindhu were equally supported and towards race time the latter cornered overwhelming support. Red Indian (Appu) made this one an easy start-to-finish essay. Leading comfortably right from the start, Red Indian marched on into the straight and accelerated extremely well and stifled the fight out of all his rivals. Once in the straight, Appu had little to do as he only gathered the Antia ward and coaxed him. That was all that was needed as Red Indian produced a resounding finish and Appu didn't have to even use his whip once. Straight as an arrow, Red Indian gained his second consecutive victory under Hormuz Antia's charge and romped home convincingly. Carlos, and even Suraj, managed to finish ahead of Cairndhu who disappointed. Ruby Rocket and Major Wager were considered a safe 'jodi' and this prophecy proved spot-on. It was Ruby Rocket who came to the fore. Medtias Pride (CS Jodha) took over the running, Ruby Rocket quickly moved to second. As they turned for home, Ruby Rocket had no difficulty in passing Medtias Pride and once clear, she bounded forward to remain elusive to her rivals. Appu once again had little to do but guide the mare through to victory. Major Wager improved past the distance post to relegate Medtias Pride to the third spot, the latter not doing too badly to come into place money. The rest made no impression whatsoever. Mubarras (Nilesh) finally came good in the last race at lucrative odds. King's Troop was the popular choice at 2 ½. The top weight, however, could not get the better of Mubarras and had to be contended with the runner's up berth. Mubarras, who took charge past the 1000 metre mark, established a handy lead in the straight and kicked on to hold King's Troop (CS Jodha) at bay particularly towards the winning post. Binee (Merchant) covered good ground to end a decent third. Binee is the one improving and is well worth to be kept track of in Pune. Trainer Faisal Abbas and jockey KPG Appu scored a double each.