Jockey C. Rajendra, known for his power-packed riding, dominated the proceedings on the HDIL Indian St. Leger (Gr 1) day with yet another scintillating performance, booting home a fine treble second day running. His first winner of the day came astride Firefoot in the fourth race. Settling surprisingly well back over a scurry, Rajendra showed no hurry and made his move well inside the straight. The Brave Heart got in homeward, first chased by Hidden Dragon, Blazing Speed and Nectar Jewel. Firefoot got alive nearing the 300 Metres, and blazed past the front-runners with contempt, to win easing up. Born To Lead finished on fastest to get to 3/4 length of the winner while Nectar Jewel ended a good third along the rails. Firefoot should do well in the higher class as well. Born To Lead is worth watching. Nectar Jewel is also shaping up. Sea Princess was Rajendra’s second winner of the day. The Dr. Vijay Mallya-owned filly by Razeen–Ocean Sunset strode out gamely to make a smashing debut. Swahili was the only one allowed to get close to Sea Princess and the others simply could not even smell her tail. Such was her acceleration, particularly in the final furlong. She banished Swahili out of her vicinity and posted a near 6 length victory, a remarkably mature effort for a debutant. She ran straight as an arrow hugging the rails and this augurs well for her future assignments. Go Guzzi Go came in from the mid-bunch to run into place money. Avec Plaisir’s was perhaps the best ride to victory for Rajendra. The small but competitive field wore an open look and the odds on every contender were certainly not miserly. Schubert surged into the lead and had Avec Plaisir on his haunches all the way, until they straightened up. Pepe Junior and Lago Medio came next, followed by Enceladus and an off-colour Englehart. Avec Plaisir soon took charge and Pepe Junior who enjoyed a slight handicap advantage over Avec Plaisir, started to mount his challenge and even put up a strong fight. However, Rajendra’s powerful handling got the best out of Avec Plaisir who not only won the race, but smashed the course record on a day where the timing of all the other races was not up to the mark. Avec Plaisir clocked a brilliant 1 – 10.33 secs and established a new course record. Pepe Junior was unlucky to have come across the winner in such a blazing mood. Lago Medio showed signs of shaping up. Enceladus and Englehart ran poorly. Ivanka (Kharadi) would have given Shailesh Shinde a sleepless night. It was his ride on this very filly that had invited the wrath of the stewards who subsequently suspended him. His appeal hearing is due on Monday and with Ivanka winning convincingly a day before, it would not help his cause one bit. Ivanka, in contrast to the last start, went ahead in a start-to-finish essay. She apparently did not like the jockey holding her and kept tossing her head to break free. The slow pace eventually held her in good stead as she reserved her best in the straight and quickened well to ward off the challenge from Kingdom Of Love. Had Fargeat chosen to grab the lead and set a faster pace it could have been a different story. That was not to be and Ivanka benefited from the slow run race and no third horse could pose a threat. Alvida looked like putting up a brave show, but unconfirmed news is that he had tendon problems just as he was making his move and that proved fatal in the race. Ponyta ran on to end third ahead of Alvida. Bridge Too Far (Fargeat) finally came into his own and easily accounted for this rather poor opposition and made no bones about earning his winning bracket without fuss. The even money favourite made light work of the heavy weight he was carrying and won start-to-finish in an emphatic fashion. He looked the winner no sooner than they turned for home, and he sped away from the rest. Cabinda (Alam) only managed to beat Emerging Power (Prashant) closer home to take the runner’s up slot. Raging Chenb (PS Chouhan) started a chain reaction by moving in soon after start, thus passing a check to the horses on the inside resulting in Classic Spirit clipping with one of the horses and dislodging jockey Dasharath Singh. Fortunately, Dashrath escaped with a fracture and nothing more. The fall on screen looked scary and it could have been a lot worse. Master Planner (Belose) hit the front and pulled away from a hard-ridden Raging Chenb to win by a widening margin. Viceroy did well towards the end to finish third just failing narrowly to collar the favourite Raging Chenb. Stellar Affair (Ruzaan) returned to winning form after two forgettable runs. She was beaten by Hidden Dragon close home in race 223 and she finished nowhere in 252. This time, however, Stellar Affair was prominent all through and ran true to herself seizing the lead early and holding on well. Ekofisk (Neeraj) wasted precious time in getting out of a rough passage and came on with telling strides once she got clear. Xiamen who matched strides with the winner early on, finished on to get the place money and Marmaris did not trouble the front lot and ended a quite fourth. Note Ekofisk, she should run a good race soon. Jockey PS Chouhan was again in the thick of things when his horse collided with Maverick resulting in jockey Prashant loosing his balance and sustaining a fall. However, the jockey escaped unhurt. Intimacy was the biggest disappointment of the day. The heavily backed mare started off well getting the better of another front runner – Pacemaker, but couldn’t drive home that advantage. Leading well till the final 300 metres, Intimacy was under threat from the pressing Pacemaker but was eventually felled by Tearaway (Nilesh) who gathered momentum in the last 100 metres. Hitz came from a long way back to pip Intimacy for the second spot and Pacemaker ended a close fourth. Crespo and Honeyday, who were far too back, also covered ground to finish close to the front group. Hitz’s effort was noteworthy. Icebreaker (Grant) was the well backed favourite who was surprised by another debutant Dancing Dynamite (Merchant). Cresendo (Chinoy) led the field homeward and Icebreaker quickly gave chase. Dancing Dynamite readily pounced on the duo and accelerated quickly to snuff out any challenge. Merchant sped away adding turf with every stride and Icebreaker was in futile chase. The Imtiaz-trained filly ran on to avert further setback and probably needed this run. While Dancing Dynamite was surely superior on the day, Iceberg is bound to improve and is well worth following in her next outing. Highland Magic caught up with the long-time leader Cresendo to snatch the place money on the post. Daniel Grant stole the show in the last race of the day with a heroic victory astride Bezon Chinoy-trained Kalpavrukha. Top Action (Prakash) had stolen a march and was garnering all the cheers in front of the Grand Stands, yet Kalpavruksha was not sighted. Grant was working overtime to improve from the last position inside the straight and put in a sustained effort on the wide outside. Past the distance post, Top Action was still enjoying a handy lead and few would have suspected that she would be caught. However, Grant was persistent and Kalpavruksha responded with giant strides and got the measure of Top Action metres from the winning post. Morpheus ended ahead of Classic Star. Beside Rajendra’s treble, Jockey Daniel Grant and Trainer P. Shroff scored a double each.