Karthik Ganapathy trained Amare (Ruler of the World – Focus on Us, Sohna Stud) could not have performed better on her debut. She settled nice and quick and although she had only one behind, jockey Bhawani Singh didn’t hurry the filly and made his move only approaching the bend. 

Multiencrypted showed the way and tried to speed away in the straight. Catalina could not quicken and faded out as did Souza. Amare showed plenty of speed as she came rushing to the front and dashed past Multiencrypted with ease and looked the winner the moment she arrived with her scorching run. Amare trounced the opposition to post an impressive win. Flying Scotsman too improved well in the straight and finished a good second. Fast Rain ended a tame third beating the long-time leader close home. Amare won well and it would be surprising if she didn’t add to her tally when she comes out next, even if it’s over a slightly longer distance. 

Trainer Adhiraj Jodha landed a quick double at the start of the day, winning the first two races in contrasting fashion. 

His ward Beejay (Sedgefield – Blue Jay, Jai Govind Stud) pulled off a thrilling win in the opener of the day. Sitting in third behind leader Blazing Bay and Carlos, jockey CS Jodha surged ahead soon on turning for home. Vincenzo soon came up with a serious challenge and these two battled away through to the post. Exotique could not find the rail run, hence had to skirt around to make her bid from the outside. That bit of delay cost her dearly as Exotique was clearly the fastest to finish of the trio, but the winning post came to the rescue. Beejay held Vincenzo by a neck, and Exotique just failed to snatch away the runner-up berth by a nose. Beejay ran a courageous race and stood his ground all the way to earn his maiden victory on his fourth attempt. 

In the very next race, Adhiraj’s Golden Era (Sedgefield – Feona, Jai Govind Stud) scored an encore, beating the same set of rivals he did last time with an even bigger margin. He settled in third with Square Moon leading them with Gloriosus in second, In It To Win it tailed the field and never made an impact in the race. 

Gloriosus joined the leader at the turn with Golden Era on his tail, waiting to charge ahead. Golden Era took charge at the top of the straight and there ended the challenge. Jockey Neeraj Rawal had little to do as Golden Era accelerated fluently and added turf with every stride, leaving Gloriosus far behind. He romped home in style to win the General Obaidullah Khan Trophy beating Gloriosus with a big margin and without needing to go all out. 

Jockey PS Chouhan was the star of the day, scoring a hattrick and then adding another to return with a rich haul of four winners on the day. He began his winning streak with Shamshir Sword (Phoenix Tower – First at Summer, Manjri Stud) guiding the Pesi Shroff trainee to his second successive win in as many starts.  

Shamshir Sword showed quality improvement over his debut run and settled down in the fourth position not too far away from Steppenwolf, Rays of Sun and My Precious. Chouhan kept an eye on the front runners and made his move soon at the turn and didn’t allow Rays of Sun to get away. Steppenwolf and My Precious faded away soon and before Rays of Sun could even think of a win, Shamshir Sword was all over him and within a couple of strides was up and away from them all. He won drawing away, lengthening his strides and finishing a good two and half length from Rays of Sun. Gilt Edge improved slightly, but under some hard riding to snatch the place money from Ron. 

Malesh Narredu trained Leopard Rock (Kingda Ka – Besame Mucho, Nanoli Stud) surprisingly made heavy weather of the pre-race assumption of an easy victory. The piping hot favourite was stretched by a lesser mortal in Red Carnation, the latter undoubtedly giving the winner a tiny scare midway in the straight. Wild Fire ran out of fuel after leading until the turn and Leopard Rock assumed command at the top of the straight. Red Carnation moved up to tail the new leader, while the rest didn’t look threatening. Approaching the distance post, Red Carnation gained on Leopard Rock and was just half a length behind, however, Chouhan rode out the colt and also kept his whip hand busy to ensure that the challenger was dealt with effectively. Red Carnation’s bluff was called, as Leopard Rock drew away in the last few strides. Red Carnation did well to take the runner-up slot. While Epiphany and Agrami improved to take the remaining slots in the frame, Castilian looked far below his best.      

Chouhan’s hattrick came astride debutante Miracle (Multidimensional – Khalila, Usha Stud) from Pesi Shroff’s stables. Miracle looked good throughout the race and the way she travelled, a keen eye would have spotted her as the winner much before the bend.  

Nishk led them into the straight with a slender lead and had Heidmar, Hell Bent and Arc De Triomphe right behind; Miracle followed the trio a couple of lengths further back. Nishk moved under the whip and it was clear that he would not sustain too long, Arc De Triomphe started to close in to challenge. Miracle was behind horses with about 400 to go and Chouhan smartly moved inwards when he saw a gap there. He had to switch lanes again to take the gap between Nishk and Arc De Triomphe and once the filly got a clear run, Miracle tore away from her rivals and was soon out of bounds to post a clear four-length victory, that margin piling up within the final furlong. Arc De Triomphe ended second, while Supreme Runner improved under the whip to snatch the third spot from Nishk. 

Chouhan got his fourth for the day atop Costa Rica (Phoenix Tower – Celadon, Manjri Stud) from the Shroff stables. Desert Fire led them into the straight with Endeavour right alongside; El Capitan slipped in through the rails and joined these two. Endeavour clearly needed the run and he squandered a good chance to push for it. El Capitan surged ahead and shaped well momentarily, but it was all over when Costa Rica and Chouhan arrived with a fiery gallop to zip past them all and stamp his maiden victory in style, though it did take a while coming. El Capitan survived a late bid from Pense’e and just about managed to keep the runner up berth by half a length. Super Girl improved well in the straight to take the fourth spot. 

Asad Siddiqui trained Lagertha (Arazan – Nora, Poonawalla Stud) scraped through to hoist her maiden win on her ninth start. She took charge soon on turning for home as Gold Member could not defy the penalty and bowed out. Lagertha shot ahead and saw no threat from Highland Woods, but Sachertorte was gaining on her briskly. The handy lead came in handy for Lagertha as Sachertorte’s strong challenge fell through narrowly, the winning post coming to the rescue of the winner. Grand Sinatra moved up to finish third ahead of Gold Member. 

SN Joshi trained Gold Crest (Chinese Whisper – Wasabi, Tohna Stud) ran away to facile victory in the hands of apprentice jockey AS Peter. Tristar was a bit tardy at the start, but made rapid progress to go into the lead well before they turned for home. She looked good entering the straight as she built a handy lead past the 400m mark. Neither Arabian Storm weakened while Saltbae was making some progress. Gold Crest made her bid from the wide outside and she simply crushed them all, breezing past them and stretching away at a great clip. Gold Crest proved far too superior to the bunch winning with a healthy margin, her first success coming on her ninth start. Saltbae found one too good on the day, hence had to be content with the second position. Tristar did well to finish in the money. 

For the professionals, jockey PS Chouhan was the star of the day with four winners, trainer Pesi Shroff saddled a treble, while trainer Adhiraj Jodha scored a double.