Silver Sands (Ontario – Extreme Contact) made most of the last minute withdrawal of favourite Blue Thunder and sped home to win the Bright Hanovar Trophy on Saturday at the Mahalaxmi. Blue Thunder was found to have lost one of his fore-plates at the gates and was forced to be withdrawn. Silver Sands, the next in demand, duly compiled a comfortable victory beating the rest without too much sweat. Hitting the front soon on start, Silver Sands settled a shade behind Wild Torronaado and the pair was well ahead of the rest.

Inside the homestretch, Wild Torronaado went all out and was stubbornly holding on to the slender lead, but Silver Sands warmed up and came along with a sustained bid to sail past the leader past the distance post and stretch further away for a decisive win, providing trainer Imtiaz Sait with a back-to-back double. Elementto Style ran on to finish third. Imtiaz had, a race earlier, saddled a long shot in Forever Amber (Razeen – Romantic Alliance) to a surprisingly easy victory. As the field of eight jumped out of the stalls, Forever Amber was a tad slow and was last in a tightly packed bunch. Ran Banka led the field with Socaroro, Suavemente and Patek Philippe with Arbudh in the mid-bunch.

Into the straight, Ran Banka bowed out and Socaroro was finding it hard to keep going. Suavemente and Patek Philippe where just beginning to dispute the lead when Forever Amber swooped upon them with a tremendous gallop and sailed past them to post a very facile victory by over four lengths. Zaracha (Hymn – Zeisha) lived up to pre-race expectations and fought his way to victory with a gritty performance while beating the second-in-demand Fallen Angel. Fallen Angel entered the straight with a slender lead with Zahretta on her haunches and Zaracha ready to strike just behind the pair. Zahretta could not quicken paving way for Zaracha to make his move passing the 400.

Fallen Angel kept sticking alongside Zaracha but in the final furlong, Zaracha accelerated better and strode away from Fallen Angel to taste his maiden victory. Dante Rossetti (Royal Kingdom – Pharellia) and Dancing Dame provided a scintillating finish as they battled the length of the straight stride for stride. It was a sublime match between two riding stalwarts, Prakash astride Dante Rossetti and Rajendra atop Dancing Dame.

The duo was at their best with some forceful riding and as they zipped past the winning post, it was still anybody’s race. The camera verdict went in favour of Dante Rossetti by the narrowest of margins. This was indeed the best race of the day. Both had an equal share of supporters and the odds on them too were as close as the verdict. Cosmopolitan (Royal Kingdom – Mea Culpa) produced a terrific burst in the straight to outpace Clarion Call with complete disdain.

Clarion Call set his own comfortable pace and led in the four runners with Taanush, Cosmopolitan and Thanda in that order. Clarion Call looked comfortable in front only until Cosmopolitan gathered momentum and came up with blistering speed to surge past with a lively burst. Clarion Call could not match the brilliance of Cosmopolitan and caved in tamely to let down a large following for the second time in a row. Cosmopolitan, however, produced an unbeatable run on the day and trainer Uday Bhan Singh had done wonders with the gelding who has struck awesome form. Kimaya (Bee’s Prospector – Romantic Revival) was brilliantly ridden by Dashrath Singh to ward off a fiery late challenge from Sea Angel and Ibis in the final furlong.

Settling into the third behind Ijlal and Blau Himmel, Dashrath made his move midway up the straight. Ijlal, it was obvious, was fighting a losing battle and Kimaya soon went past with telling strides to grab the lead. Blau Himmel found the weight too hard to cope with and fell back. Ibis put up a stiff challenge in the final furlong and then came the late bid from Sea Angel. Kimaya however, was in no mood to relent and safely kept the challengers at bay.

Shabdeez (Brave Hunter – Gold N Honey) pulled of a narrow victory with a sound tactical ploy adopted by jockey J Pradeep. Settled third behind Blades of Glory and Shodaan, Shabdeez darted into the lead even as they turned for home and quickly constructed a sizeable lead. In the straight, Shabdeez enjoyed a handy lead and kept a fair clip going making the rest to really raise a strong gallop to catch up. Past the distance post, Shabdeez looked safe and the early lead built up by Pradeep came in very handy as Blades of Glory came at Shabdeez sharply in the final fifty only to finish second by a narrow margin.

Favourite Marine Zone started off badly and just could not come up with anything of quality and finished off the frame. Hammerhead ended a good third. Caramel (Warrshan – Peperoni) won the last race of the day with a flying finish to get past Daffodils who had earlier sprinted into the lead at the business end of the race. The front bunch was a crowded one and although Daffodils was about seventh or eighth, he was never too far from the front-runners.

Daffodils wove his way from the middle and shot ahead past the 400. Caramel made her move from the outside and was gaining ground with every stride. In the final 100, Caramel got stronger and wore Daffodils down to score a half length victory. For the professionals, trainer Imtiaz Sait and jockey CS Jodha scored a double each.