Ballerina (Sanus Per Aquam – Belladee, Kunigal Stud), the overwhelming favorite to win the Byerly Turf Million (Gr3), the feature race of the day, just about managed to pull off a thrilling win, by the proverbial skin of her teeth. The dogged challenge came from long-shot Sensibility who was one among the debutantes. Sensibility switched to top gear only in the final furlong of the 1200 meter sprint race, displaying a tremendous turn of foot as she covered a lot of ground at a brisk rate only to fall short by a whisker.

Prime fancy Ballerina, from trainer Prasad Raju's yard, did everything right as jockey Suraj Narredu settled her close behind early leaders Happy Go Lucky and Kaitlan until the turn. While Happy Go Lucky bowed out, Kaitlan stayed in contention until Ballerina flexed her muscles and surged past Kaitlan to take charge. Ballerina accelerated well to stretch out nicely and seemed to have had a firm grip on the race, with a sizable lead in the kitty, with less than a furlong to go. This is when Sensibility started to pick up speed. Even with just 100m to go, Ballerina looked the clear winner, but Sensibility produced a scintillating burst to catch up at an alarming rate. The two fillies flashed past the winning post locked together. None, including the usually sharp commentator Shivprasad, could pick the winner. Ballerina emerged victorious in a photo finish by a nose, the bob of the head going right for her. For a first run, Kaitlan did well to finish in the money.

Shashikanth trained Green Turf (Green Coast – Methodical) put in a steady performance to keep off the challengers to strike it rich by a narrow margin. Settling in a close third spot, got past early leader Mark My day with ease and bounced ahead to build a handy lead. Soon Chuckit arrived with a good run and this pair matched strides past the distance post. Green Turf, well ridden by Ajinkya, put up stiff resistance and managed to stave off Chuckit, but then Mirana arrived with a big gallop. Green Turf stemmed that challenge too, well, the winning post could not have arrived any sooner for the winner. Green Turf won by a neck to spare from Mirana, who has fallen short narrowly a few times and only if the mare could time her finish slightly better, she could have converted a few more to the winning cause.

Despang (Multidimensional – Amore Mio) trained by Deshmukh, put up a seasoned performance and this time was resolute right from the start. He was off to a flashy start and soon raced to the front past the bunch of runners including Malaala to set the pace for the mile-long journey.

At the turn, Despang, with jockey Surya Prakash in the saddle, pushed ahead for the final run. Malaala soon came with a spirited run and joined Despang with about 300m to go. It looked like Malaala had wrested the upper hand from Despang as she put her neck in front to snatch the lead. Despang however, was not done yet and jockey Surya Prakash set about reclaiming the lead. He rode out hard and used his whip hand to good effect to get Despang to rise up and renew her final bid. Despang showed a lot of character to fight back and produce a determined gallop to outpace Malaala and race away to win by a clear one length margin. Her splendid recovery and the final assault fetched Despang her maiden success on her sixth attempt. Malaala was floored completely and had to settle for the runner up berth. Lightning Fairy put in a moderate show to finish third.

Campania (Ampere – Mount Eliza) scored a clinical start to finish victory and profited from the handy lead he had in the final furlong. Leading soon on start, Campania was well clear of Gurbaz and seemed on target. Jockey Akshay Kumar kept the Deshmukh trainee going and he looked safe with just over 100m to go. Gurbaz was getting nowhere, but it was Star Babe who picked up terrific speed to come at Campania with threatening strides in the dying moments of the race. Akshay ensured there were no last moment jolts and guided Campania to safety of the winning post, winning by just one length. Star Babe ended a good second, while Grand Duke finished on very well to finish a notable third.

Ten to one shot High Reward (David Livingstone – Ultrasonic) trained by Satheesh, lived up to his name going by the odds, as he packed off more fancied rivals to score his maiden win comfortably. He was off to a quick start and dashed into the lead and had a handy lead turning for home. Meridia, who followed the leader into the  straight, could not muster well enough to throw a challenge. Carlisle improved and made a run on the outside, but High Reward drifted out, hence Carlisle had to switch back inwards, but High Rewards was just too good as he stretched away to score an emphatic victory. Carlisle beat Meridia to finish a decent second. Adamas, the favorite, was all at sea languishing too far back, but picked up in the final furlong to end a tame fourth. Adamas obviously needed the run and hopefully should do better next time out.

Ravindra Singh's Greek's Ace (Sedgefield – Turk's Friend) added to his solitary win over two years back with a persistent gallop at the business end. Wot's Up Jay led them into the straight but soon had Greek's Ace crowding him. He didn't resist as Greek's Ace marched ahead to take charge. Sorry Darling made her bid along the rails, while Solo Winner arrived with a spirited challenge from the outside. Greek's Ace shifted out under pressure but was in command alright. Jockey Gaurav Singh managed to stay ahead to carve out a narrow victory, sparing just half a length to solo winner. Sorry Darling finished a fair third.

For the professionals, trainer LVR Deshmukh scored a double.