Lesser fancied and a couple of rank outsiders stumped the followers of form on Saturday’s races at Pune. Favourites fell through in all but the concluding race of the day.

The feature event of the day – The Eve Champion Trophy (Gr3) also saw popular fancy Adjudicate go down tamely to the filly-in-form Bushtops (Archipenko – Etroubles, Nanoli Stud) from the stables of veteran trainer MK Jadhav. Adjudicate settled in the fourth spot behind Vulcan, Sacred Roman and Bronze until the turn and made a smooth forward move as they turned for home.

Vulcan fought on courageously well into the straight but soon had Adjudicate drawing level. Bushtops weaved her way between horses and was in peril of getting blocked for passage at a crucial juncture. However, she managed to squeeze between horses even as Adjudicate surged into the lead with under a furlong to go in the shorter Pune straight. Bushtops accelerated beautifully in the hands of jockey NS Parmar and tore away from her rivals Adjudicate included and romped home an impressive winner, beating a bunch of top notch horses with ease. Adjudicate was floored and ended a tame second. Vulcan, to his credit did creditably well beating Caprisca to fourth. Bushtops was clearly superior on the day and should do well from here on.

Adeline (Chevalier – Avec Plaisir, Ruia Stud) won the P Hadow Trophy, the supporting event of the day in a thrilling finish. Adeline moved up soon on turning for home and after a brief tussle, got the measure of Gold Field. Jockey CS Jodha worked his way up and had Adeline galloping at top speed in the latter half of the race. Harmony of the Seas arrived with a threatening run but could not force the issue. Gentillesse, who was a bit tardy at the start tried to make a grand revival, covering ground at a brisk pace, but the winning post arrived a couple of strides too soon.

Lesser fancied Beemer (Leitir Mor – Black Magic, Poonawalla stud) trained by Dallas Todywalla, achieved his first success on his fifth start with a brave effort to thwart a splendid late effort from Polaris. Beemer was slightly slow off the gates but recovered quickly to progress well and settled in second behind Sachretorte. Beemer, with jockey K Nazil in the saddle, soon took charge and darted away from the rest. Turaco put in a productive run and started to chase Beemer. Favourite Seventh Mile never got going and made no impact whatsoever. Polaris moved purposefully on the outside and picked up speed in the final few strides. He flew towards the end, but Beemer kicked on relentless to win by a narrow margin from Polaris and Turaco.

Vishal Gaikwad trained Thomas Hardy (Poet’s Voice – Mesmerized) winning the last came as a welcome relief to the followers of favourites as the 11/10 favourite put in a sustained gallop to collar Dazzling Star at the business end of the race. Dazzling Star did most things right and showed good early speed to lead the field well into the straight. He galloped on gamely, but soon Thomas Hardy, fitter from a good last run, arrived with a game gallop to surge past and post a comfortable win. Julio Cesaro arrived with a late run to end a notable third.

Earlier in the day Narendra Lagad trained Power of Thor (Whatsthescript – Octagleam, Nanoli Stud) outlasted his rivals to score a thumping win in the day’s opener. Power of Thor moved up smoothly to get past Dazzle N Daze and lunge forward to score a runaway win by close to five lengths. Dazzle N Daze did well to take the next best spot, keeping Grand Eyes at bay.

My Precious (Excellent Art – Evatina, Poonawalla Stud) scored a facile victory scoring by a widening margin. The Karthik trained mare set off at a good clip with jockey Bhawani Singh in the saddle. She was safely ahead of Makhtoob at the turn and once in, My Precious showed a clean pair if heels to draw away from Makhtoob. She looked the winner a long way from home and she trounced the opposition and won easing up by a whopping margin of seven lengths. Jager Bomb progressed well to finish second ahead of Makhtoob.