ON a day when form horses came to the fore in most of the races, two prime favorites won their respective assignments with aplomb. Yellow Diamond (Dark Angel – Snow Cannon, Nanoli Stud) ran away to a start to finish victory without encountering any serious threat. The Vishal Gaekwad trained filly, was urged to go ahead and take charge by jockey P Trevor and once in the lead, Trevor held the grey filly in check until well into the straight. Dolphin chased the leader into the homestretch but failed to sustain.  Beneficial improved places and even looked the one to provide some zip in the race; however, Yellow Diamond had picked up good momentum and proved too good on the day achieving a maiden success after some promising showing in her recent runs. Beneficial had to stay alert all the way to keep the second spot as Snowy Peaks finished on well to end close behind Beneficial.

Classicus (Arazan – Classic Sky, Exhilaration Stud) was another one who secured a ‘First Win’ and this was his second outing. The Zadmal Singh ward had showed a lot of spark on her debut run three weeks back, and was the universal choice. He did pretty well considering this was only his second run and he was taking on a seasoned class IV set. His inexperience showed as he took a long while to overhaul the leader, but once he found his rhythm, Classicus dominated the finish.

Gunga Din led them into the straight with Be Bold a close second, Classicus raced in fourth just behind Spiridon until they approached the turn.  Gunga Din faded away soon after and Spiridon shot into the lead, going at a good clip. Classicus moved to second but had to cover a couple of lengths to the leader. Fringe Benefit was up on the outside, while Torrezzo moved up along the rails.

Spiridon kicked on and had a handy lead approaching the distance post, however, Classicus proved too good in the final furlong as he picked up speed to dash past Spiridon and draw away in the final run. Spiridon ended a good second, while Fringe Benefit managed to pip Torrezzo for place money.

Nutcracker (Holy Roman Emperor – Galilean Moon, Sohna Stud) proved too good for her rivals and she too scored her maiden win over the 2000m trip. Nutcracker saw her odds soar alarmingly from on-money ante-post to close to 2/1 at race time. She has the last laugh though putting in a singeing stretch run to completely outpace the opposition. Mastermarksman led all the way into the straight and was well in front throughout and even as they straightened for home.

Nutcracker had settled in fourth spot mad made her move at the turn getting past Danse Debonaire and Sansa to get to one behind the leader. Nutcracker ridden by Neeraj Rawal started to accelerate soon on turning for home and within strides got past Mastermarksman and stretched away far from her rivals. She scored an emphatic victory, winning by a healthy margin and promising an encore.

Miss Moneypenny (Excellent Art – Mufradat, Exhilaration Stud) made a memorable debut scoring a shock win, going by the odds. She was the longest priced contender in the five-horse field at 20/1.

Elysee was in the lead until they turned for home with Lincoln close behind; Juggernaut was slipping away from contention, while Miss Moneypenny was warming up as they turned for home. Lincoln quickly wiped away the deficit and got past Elysee. Miss Moneypenny was making rapid progress and started to draw closer to the favorite. IN the final 100m the Imtiaz Sait trained filly got the measure of Lincoln with a sizzling finish to earn a thrilling win on debut. Miss Moneypenny was ably ridden to victory by jockey CS Jodha. Lincoln’s too was a good effort and he would benefit from this run and make it count the next time.

Adhirajsingh Jodha’s Bounty Queen (Bahamian Bounty – Evening Tale, Jai Govind Stud) dished out a spirited run in the homestretch to carve out an aggressive victory. Bounty Queen sat in second behind leader Grey Flannel with the rest huddled close together.

On turning for home, Grey Flannel galloped on and shaped well for the finish too, however, jockey DS Daman set alight Bounty Queen and the filly responded crisply to down Grey Flannel and win drawing away. Grey Flannel kicked on to claim the runner-up berth from Salvatore Mundi.

Altaf Hussain trained Shaoqing (Arazan – Deraasaat, Poona Stud) pulled off a splendid win with apprentice Akshay Gaekwad in the saddle. Sitting right on the tail of leader Warlock until the turn, Shaoqing darted into the lead soon on turning for home. Once in charge, Shaoqing accelerated nicely to steer clear of her rivals. Irish Bailey tried hard to catch up but in vain. Makino rose in the final 100 meters and managed to pip Irish Bailey for the second, but made no impact on Shaoqing who won comfortably.

Dusk N Dawn (Peintre Celebre – Silenia, Bhaktawar Stud) was well ridden by apprentice SA Amit to quell the challenge from Super Icon. The duo were engaged in a battle a furlong from home, but Dusk N Dawn got going in the final 100 to win with a measure of comfort from Super Icon.