Last time when Salazaar and Desert God crossed swords in the Chief Justice Cup, the multi-classic winner Desert God finished more than a dozen lengths behind the winner Salazaar. It was the maiden effort of Desert God back in the country. Salazaar without his jockey moving a muscle had  beaten Desert God earlier in a mock race. The fact that Salazaar had beaten the all-time great out of sight and the highly rated Prevalent Force too could not match strides with the Irfan Ghatala ward in the Chief Justice Cup only suggested that Salazaar was the horse to beat in the final classic of the season, the Bangalore St.Leger. But Salazaar looked beat even before the five runners negotiated the final curve and eventually finished a poor fourth behind Reunion. It was a pathetic effort from the Irfan Ghatala ward.

On the one side it was a vastly improved performance from a seasoned champion which surprised most while on the other side it was the deterioration in form of the favourite which shocked the railbirds. Salazaar’s performance was too bad to be true and calls for an explanation and Irfan may end up answering some tough questions and that’s only if the stipes and stewards decide to seek answers as to what went wrong with Salazaar.

Neeraj Rawal pushed Desert God to the front the moment the five runners came under the starter’s flag for the gruelling 2800M trip. Sana from Bharath Singh’s yard stayed close to the `God’ while Salazaar chose to play the waiting game all through the backstretch. Though John guiding the fortunes of Salazaar moved up before the winner brought the field into view, Salazaar, it was clear  lacked the legs to make a race of it. Desert God despite missing a step in the final furlong kicked clear and romped home to add another classic to his distinguished list while Salazaar plodded home fourth behind the runner-up Sana and Reunion.  

Neeraj who partnered Desert God earlier booted home another lesser fancied winner Areca Angel in the opening event. The Arjun Manglorkar ward produced a stunning gallop in the straight to outclass the public choice Charmed Life in the Pronto Pronto Stakes run over a sprint.

Arjun after leading in Areca Angel recorded a double through the overwhelming favourite Setaglow in the concluding event, the Astronomic Plate run over a mile. The topweighted contestant who had failed to justify favouritism in her last effort over an identical trip produced her best in the hands of  John to storm through an opening on the rails to put the issue beyond doubt in the final furlong. Gold Mist caught the eye while gaining the second spot ahead of Internal Affair while Nyssa came home fourth.

Leading pro Trevor Patel who shared the professional honours with Neeraj and Arjun on a day Padmanabhan scaled a new high and Irfan Ghatala sunk low, delighted the followers of form guiding home the two popular choices, Charmaine and Mulholland. The former from Sulaiman Attaollahi’s yard comfortably beat Wonder Blaze to come up tops in the principal added attraction, the Mount Everest Trophy and Mulholland from trainer Neil Darashah’s yard after a brief duel with the Warren Singh schooled Nanhipari registered his second straight success in the Marilingaiah Memorial Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs.

Trainer Gregory Sandhu who brought off a couple of good gambles this season added one more to his list, Evandor from his yard winning the Aureole Time Plate in emphatic fashion. The topweight despite making his maiden appearance this season was strongly fancied to score by his connections and he justified the confidence of the Sandhu camp powering through in the hands of T S Jodha to gallop home in style. Camila finished a game second ahead of Breaking Away while Sun Power after early promise could only make the frame.

The Delhi apprentice, Asif Khan showed a lot of poise and promise while punching home the ten to one shot Back Of Beyond in the Kunigal Stud Plate run over a mile. The apprentice despite not being favourably placed at the top of the straight and making his run on the wide outside displayed good temperament and skill to edge out Erdemir at the shadow of the winning post. Stanley in his attempt to make every post a winning one ended third while the favourite Buscadero who reportedly burst his blood vessel during the mile long journey failed to make the frame.