It had to happen and it did. The roll of the dice, the spin of the coin and the wheel of fortune, all  favoured the punters,  seven first favourites nailing bold colours to the mast and the incredible result on Sunday is a definite confidence booster to the punters at this centre who were at the receiving end on Saturday and last Sunday, strong and obvious prime favourites falling like nine pins in a bowling alley.

The Mumbai pro Zervan set the trend on the Neil Darashah schooled Hostess in the opening event, the lower division of the Baraloy Plate. The favourite after tracking the nohoper Woodbridge for most part of the seven furlongs trip assumed command at the top of the straight and put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong.

Zervan next packed punch on the Sulaiman Attaollahi schooled Acclaimed, another public choice who produced a gutsy effort in the Racing Patrons Trophy, the plum event run over a sprint. The winner after travelling nice and easy till the 11-horse field negotiated the final furlong seized the initiative and then bravely pegged back the challenge of stablemate Pentagram. Shivalik Star finished a creditable third ahead of Super Force while the two lesser fancied contestants Super Sunshine and Smile Stone who were in with a good outside chance lost all at the jump.

In line for a treble, Zervan astride the Mallesh Narredu-trained Cataleya who was considered a `moral certainty’ in the lower division of the V Venugopal Naidu Memorial Cup had it easy just guiding home the classic hopeful without raising a sweat. The winner who had chalked out two good victories from her three starts in Mumbai, next will compete in the Fillies Championship Stakes which is a very open affair, all the top fillies at this campus bar Ice Glacier chalking out emphatic wins and staking their claim to wear the best lady sash on June 12.

The full brother of Admirality, Captain Morgan who had disappointed most in his two efforts in winter displayed his true potential in the Moonlight Romance Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. The captain it is true was a different horse the time his trainer Sulaiman and his mentor Zeyn Mirza chose to put blinkers on Morgan. He had excelled in the morning trials and reproduced the track form which was good enough to slam his six rivals including Shan Ben Aari from Nithyanand’s yard who was fancied most on the sole count that the filly had run Lochness close in her second start in winter.  But then it is the improvement made before your next effort is what separates the winner from the loser and from the result today, it is clear that Lochness is a very improved filly,  who is set to make her presence felt against the best of her age and sex in the first classic and Shaan Ben Aari has just stayed where she was in winter and will struggle to shed her maiden status this summer.

It was good to see the old war horse Samar Singh lead in a winner. Precious Glitter from his yard was backed to the exclusion of his 11 rivals in the Bourbon King Plate and the public choice made every post a winning one in the safe hands of jockey Imran Khan. The moody Flying Bullet finished a suggestive second but this `bullet’ from Prithviraj’s gun invariably misses the mark and hence cannot be recommended. Precious Glitter is in fine nick and is set to provide an encore.

On his satisfactory winter campaign, the Darius Byramji shooled Force Ensign garnered the maximum support in the upper division of the Venugopal Naidu Memorial Cup and the favourite justified the confidence of his supporters, producing a winning gallop in the final furlong to outwit Seven Of Hearts and emerge a convincing winner. Madame Bovary did well to take the third spot while Calico Jack from trainer Inayathullah’s yard was never really in the hunt.

After losing out to the Mahesh-trained Aayan during the Invitation Cup week-end in Chennai, the talented Quaker Ridge from Arjun Manglorkar’s yard looked outstanding among the dozen runners in the paddock parade for the Classical Act Plate. And the Arjun ward made ample amends for his loss at Guindy providing leading pro S John an arm-chair ride to success. Honour from trainer Dominic’s yard was tipped to upset the applecart of the public choice but he appears to have lost the spark needed to enter the winners’ circle. Cherie Amour caught the eye while finishing second and is one for the notebook.

In the concluding event, the `Jodi’ of the topweighted Royal Defence and Trojan who had impressed most in his last start was considered safe. And the big bettors went big on the pair only to see the `Jodi’ fly out of the window to Cannes.

Despite the last event shock, punters returned home satisfied having delivered a knock-out blow after a very long time and hopefully the winds of change will continue to support the patrons of the game in the weeks ahead.