Pesi Shroff is on a song! Following an incredible six winners from his stables on Thursday last at the Mahalaxmi, Pesi Shroff fired four in Kolkata on Saturday. He kept the momentum going by scoring another four in Mumbai on Sunday. What a week it has been for Shroff! Fourteen winners in three days is unheard of in the annals of Indian Racing. The Pesi Shroff stable is dominating the turf and how. Just like on Thursday, on Sunday too it started from the second race of the day, the Sir HM Mehta Trophy. Angelo (Razeen – Alix) was the firm favourite at 6/10 on. Stablemate Triunfo made the running and brought the field homewards. Angelo was close behind and Ecstatica was trying to match strides. Indian Summer was not up to it and did not make any impact on the race. Past the 400, Angelo gained ground considerably and was travelling well getting past Triunfo half way up the straight. Triunfo resisted credibly but Angelo got stronger at the finish in the confident hands of jockey Hayes. Ecstatica went all out but could only get a bit closer to the duo but could not prevent Shroff from bagging the first two places in the race. It was good to see a competitive battle between horses from the same stable. Triunfo actually ensured that Angelo earned his victory! Bruckner (Ikhtyar – Allies Serenade) had given the Pune season a miss. But the lay-off did not stop him from posting his maiden victory. Despite his disappointing runs in Bengaluru this summer, Bruckner attracted very strong support in the markets. The Brave Heart hit the front soon on start and Bruckner improved to follow the leader, Calypso Queen River Force, Demonstrator ran close behind in a bunch. Tyumen kept company with Cloud Cover and Honey Bee. As the eight-horse field (River Gem was withdrawn at the gates) turned for home, The Brave Heart wilted under the dual challenge from Tyumen and Bruckner. Tyumen provided a keen fight for a brief while but Bruckner grew stronger past the distance post. Jockey Paul Mulrennan had a role to play as Bruckner needed to be guided. Paul changed his whip hand from right to left and kept Bruckner going. Bruckner surged forward in the last furlong and Tyumen had to be content with the next best position. Calypso Queen ran into place money while Demonstrator could do no better than find a place in the frame. Blue Danube (Diffident – Victory and Gold) ran a cracker of a race to pull of a stunning upset in the Tote On The Turf Sprint Million. Samper Eadem darted off to a fast gallop, followed by River Star, Our Fortune, Forever Young and Neyfn in close order. Tequila and River Pride were never in the hunt. The race took a serious turn in the straight. Samper Eadem kept the momentum going even as Blue Danube and Our Fortune turned on the heat. Our Fortune was in danger of getting into a traffic jam. In trying to force his way out, Prakash bumped into River Star thereby unbalancing jockey James Doyle and the latter’s challenge was aborted abruptly. Blue Danube came alive and forced his way into the lead but was hounded by the pack close behind. The sounds of the horses snorting and of the whalebone rented the air as less than a length covered the front five. Hot favourite Neyfn was in panic mode. With only the rival jockeys’ backside for a front view, Srinath was desperately looking for a clear run. Denied, he decided to switch course and that decision perhaps came too late. Just when he was pulling Nefyn outward, Forever Young mounted her challenge and a strong one at that. With the winning post fast approaching Srinath was hopelessly poised and despite all efforts could not make a race of it. Blue Danube stubbornly held on and Forever Young emerged a worthy runner up sparing a neck to the favourite. However, Nefyn was not disgraced in defeat nor was Our Fortune though he narrowly missed the judge’s frame. I would persist with Neyfn and patiently await the outcome of his next outing. Our Fortune was definitely more affected than Neyfn; the poor fellow never got a clear passage at any stage. The winner however, is the one who crosses the finish line ahead of all and that deservedly happened to be Blue Danube on the day, period! The best of Pesi came in the last of his runners for the day. Cabriolet skyrocketed his stocks with an awe-inspiring run in the class II Scorpio Plate, a seven-furlong affair. An unfortunate mishap soon after the start marred the pleasure of completely soaking in the record-breaking performance of a brilliant three year old – Cabriolet (Glory of Dancer – Highland Ghillie). Suraj Narredu’s mount, Irish Queen clipped the hinds of Polariser within seconds of the race being let off. The filly buckled awkwardly giving the jockey no reaction time. Suraj thudded to the ground, looked terribly dazed and lay motionless. Fortunately, Suraj was unhurt and merely suffered a stiff neck. He should be back on track soon. Polariser raced to the front and close behind was Cabriolet, settling nicely with Paul Mulrennan easing him into a lovely rhythm. The others followed behind, trying to come to terms with the swift initial pace. Polariser escorted Cabriolet into the lead then fell back. Cabriolet did not seem in any hurry as Mulrennan was putting in as much effort as he would for a Thursday morning gallop. Cabriolet bounded forward and increased the margin with every stride. Oyster Princess and Amazing Ray went all out to catch up but at no stage did either of them look capable of doing so. Talk Of The Town ran an impressive second. The Adil Dajee trainee was a touch slow at the gates, and then had to veer away from the fallen jockey. Considering this and the fact that he was the last one to turn for home, Talk of the Town’s effort was noteworthy. Cabriolet clocked 1:22.52 for the seven furlong, beating Samrkhand’s record of 1:23.10 and this without even as much as a vigorous push from the jockey! The excitement and anticipation for the Guineas now gets even more intense. The awesome string of successes of Pesi and the sheer brilliance of Cabriolet perhaps diluted the enormity of Rhapsidion Snow’s splendid reappearance on the Mahalaxmi track. The mare with a great heart, under the charge of ace trainer S Padmanabhan, toyed with the mighty Juventus who looked well below his best and the vastly improved Mr Greedy as well. Both the local contestants were relegated to the minor slots with surprising ease. Another Bangalore challenger – Mother’s Pride grabbed the runner up berth. Rhapsidion Snow (Placerville – Si Senorita) wrapped by the feature event – the AC Ardheshir Trophy long way from home, travelling beautifully in the straight. Paddu had fine-tuned the mare to her optimum and the mare at six could give the best milers a run for their money. Rhapsidion Snow returned the ‘Queen of the turf’ on the day. The La Ditta Japan Crystal Trophy was keenly contested by the top two market fancies – Hereafter (Ontario – Here Goes) and Estevez. The race was a perfect scurry as Soophie, Highland Flame, Highland Music and Captain Smart scampered for the lead, competing fiercely for the early initiative. That set a fast tone to the race. Estevez, normally a front-runner herself, jostled soon on start, and in those crucial moments the aforesaid quartet had taken up prominent positions. Hereafter was very fortunate to get the dream rail run at the turn and that proved decisive on the outcome. Estevez had a lot of ground to cover and came up with a powerful finishing effort, but by then Hereafter had a firm grip on the race and he wasn’t going to surrender the advantage. Jockey Neil McCullagh had to pull all his tricks to stave off the fierce last-few-meters challenge from Estevez. Estevez will live to fight another day. Mention must also be made of Blazing Spectacle who was not in the first ten at the turn. Jockey Daniel Grant had to manoeuvre his way between a contingent of horses yet managed to come into place money ending up within two lengths of the winner. The Red Rufus Trophy was another fiercely fought race with Red Indian (Redback – Matoaka) and Romantic Impact going stride for stride in the final furlong and a half. Entering the straight with a narrow lead, Red Indian had only one challenger to counter. Romantic Impact, who came through the shortest way in, came up with a sustained run and drew closer to Red Indian past the distance post. From there on, the duo fought every inch of the ground. Both jockeys, Imran Chisty and Neil McCullagh were in their elements and Red Indian held on gamely to nose out the challenger. Champion trainer CD Katrak scored a popular double with two heavily backed favourites - Moonlight Romance and the aforementioned filly Hereafter. Making her debut, Moonlight Romance (China Visit – Wandering Star) showed surprising alacrity in the straight putting paid to any anxiety when Ceil Indienne was striding well, up ahead. At the mouth of the straight, Moonlight Romance was in a vulnerable spot as she had not much room to go when she quickened. Rhythm Divine’s presence just on the outside of the leader Ceil Indienne was causing concern to her supporters. The moment Michael Fenton saw daylight he surged through the gap and wore Ceil Indienne down at the finish. Ocean Touch ran on to beat Rhythm Divine for the third. It was the day of the favourites with as many as seven favourites obliged in the bumper ten-race card. The trend of the day was set in the very first race when River Memories (China Visit – Santorini Star) made mincemeat of her rivals and won drawing away. Brief Encounter and Krug came up form a long way back to finish second and third respectively. Krug did not get the quickest of starts yet finished a good third hence merits watching in his next outing. Lakhadema (Greensmith – Crepusculaire) won the last race of the day authoritatively. Neeraj Rawal is an underestimated jockey. The clam and composure he showed when the hot favourite had a wall of horses in front just before the turn was commendable. He was confident and took the available gaps deftly and was prominently poised to strike when it mattered. He kept it simple and guided the Nosher Cama filly to the front. Lakhadema accelerated well to coast to a fluent victory with an appreciable margin. Prince Of Troy who led them all the way had a handy lead coming into the straight. Only Lakhadema went past him and he finished a good second. Vence ran on to finish third while Flo Nightingale beat a few to force her way into the frame. Foreign jockeys Paul Mulrennan and CD Hayes scored a double each.