Blue Mellon (Mr Mellon – Yvresse), owned by the Karachiwallas and trained by Faisal Abbas, capitalized to the hilt the sluggish start of favourite Rigel to land his maiden victory in the Satinello Trophy on Sunday. As they jumped out of the gates, Rigel fell to the last position as he failed to produce a quick response to the starter’s call. Considering that Rigel was lagging all the way until the turn, he recovered well to end runner-up to Blue Mellon. In the straight too, Rigel stuck to the rails and was squeezed for space a couple of times at crucial junctures.

Else, he would have made up well for his folly at the start and who knows, he might have even picked up the race and believe me this is no wishful thinking. At the turn, Legionnaire got past Arisen Star who was clearly bowing out. Soon Small Treasure looked prominent alongside the new leader. As these two were involved in a tussle, Blue Mellon came along with a livewire run to be the third horse heading towards a close finish. Rigel was travelling well but still could not fire on all cylinders as he was stuck for clear passage for agonizingly long.

By the time he slipped through, Blue Mellon had stolen a march, which came in handy at the wire. Rigel never got a chance to actually ‘go for broke’, yet managed the next best position. Need I say that in my opinion he is the proverbial ‘winner when saddled’? Scholar (Placerville – Cambridge Ball) romped home to score his third victory this season, two in succession. Scholar settled into the second position as The Gain set a brisk pace to lead by over three lengths.

Forever Young, the other hot contender was just behind Scholar and the front bunch had Lago Medio also prominently poised. Polariser lost ground at the start. Scholar improved to head the field home and soon Forever Young moved from the inside to challenge. Lago Medio too came up with a spirited run on the outside. The trio was engaged in a gripping battle but Scholar always enjoyed the upper hand. Scholar sustained his momentum all through the straight and managed to shake off the duo under some tough riding from young Trevor Patel. Lago Medio was gallant in his bid and was rewarded with the runner-up berth.

Generalissimo came with a late bid to run into place money pegging back Forever Young for the third. Irish Queen had all the chances but failed to quicken, making little impact on the race. Imran Chisty threw away the first race astride Fire Vault and lost out to Solor’s (Glory of Dancer – Steadfast Love) spirited bid close home. Setting his own pace, Fire Vault seemed over-cautious and squandered the advantage of leading the field all through. Solor was the biggest gainer in the slow run race and Ruzaan used this to great advantage.

Had Chisty marched on ahead and opened a sizable lead, it may have worked for him and he will be the first to agree that this race should have been in his safe keeping. As it turned out, the friendly pace set by the favourite had both Lightening Cavalry and Solor tugging close behind. In the straight, Lightening Cavalry could not make much impression on Fire Vault, but midway up the straight, Solor, now alerted by Ruzaan, charged forward with purpose and engaged Fire Vault in a grave fight.

Fire Vault was battling hard but wilted at the last moments to go down by a neck. Imran Chisty disappointed a large following while Ruzaan came up trumps. Royal Companion (Glory of Dancer – Ippodamia) posted a well-deserved victory with jockey YS Srinath lending a perfect hand. Royal Companion initially was looking to break free and Srinath did well to soothe him down. Gamba led the field homeward and soon Royal Companion drew abreast early in the straight. Srinath then guided Royal Companion to the front with ease and worked up a nice final gallop. While the rest struggled, Steely Dan showed some spirit in the final furlong and posed a serious challenge.

Srinath was equally up to it and rode hard to ward off a stiff challenge from Steely Dan who just failed to collar the favourite, going down by a narrow half-length. Gamba ran on to end third ahead of Ariane who raced in the rear for the most part. Demonstrator (Alnasr Alwasheek – Star Concert) had struck a purple patch and he extended it with another thumping victory despite carrying a heavy impost. Jockey Prakash rode a confident race and showed little hurry while settling Demonstrator closer to the rear. Strathendrick made the initial running with Their Lil Sister and Illuminate in close attendance.

On turning for home, Illuminate had barely thought about going into the lead when Demonstrator made his presence felt right beside. The duo pilled away from the rest and fought out for a brief while. In the final few metres, Demonstrator showed a lot of power and drew away from Illuminate to post an awesome four-in-a-row this season. While Prakash was his usual brilliant self, trainer MK Jadhav deserves his share of accolades for keeping Demonstrator in such fine condition right through the season.

One is reminded of his charge Mr Greedy, who hit top form in the bottom class in Pune and kept winning his way to the top class. Demonstrator, it appears, is following suit. This was an extremely good show from MK Jadhav. Jockey Dashrath Singh scored a double astride two long shots in The Right Man (Forest Fair – Amorous Delight) and Secret Affair (Warrshan – Molten Gold). Both the victories came through after a tough fight against more fancied rivals. Uproar had galloped away to pull off a start-to-finish essay but his bluff was called at the last post before the winning one.

Victor Ivanov proved a tough nut to crack but with some sustained riding, Dashrath managed to surge ahead in the last few strides. In the last race of the day, Dashrath spoiled the party of the connections of Brave Gun, who was backed down heavily. Brave Gun, complementing the market trends, shot into the lead along with The First Lady and the pair rolled off to a sizable lead. In the straight, Brave Gun left The First Lady behind and charged forward. Nearing the distance post, Secret Affair and Fantastic began to cut down the lead and soon joined the favourite. Brave Gun fought on but Secret Affair got stronger at the finish to win by half a length and a neck away was Fantastic.