Soloist (Top Class – Allee Bleue) scored a smashing victory, completely outpacing his rivals in the homestretch and at nourishing odds at that! Freely available at over five to one, Soloist was quick to settle behind early leader Rhythm Selection until the turn. The moment jockey Akshay Kumar urged Soloist past the leader, the Sequeira trainee galloped smoothly into the lead and accelerated fluently to draw away from the rest in quick time. He was all alone in front in the final furlong and going further away to eventually win by a good margin of five and half lengths. DRD showed a little bit of spunk to finish second. Just Incredible rallied late but did well to pip Angel Tesoro and Maximus Glamour for the third spot.

Jockey Akshay Kumar had similarly piloted Ravindra Singh trained Thunder Road (Saamidd – My Mood) to a thumping victory in the earlier race, thus achieving a back-to-back double for the day.

Blazing Jupiter dashed into the lead and was soon joined by Thunder road and these two led them into the straight. Thunder Road quickened soon after and picked up speed with every stride. He stole a march over the rest approaching the distance post and stayed well ahead at the post, winning comfortably by two and half lengths. Sea Wolf, Soul Empress and Linewiler finished almost abreast in that order.

Bellagio (Speaking of Which – Clementi) finally kept her date with victory after missing out on four earlier attempts. She looked a lot fitter in the paddock too and she flew out of the gates to settle behind leader Divine Connection soon on start. Jockey Umesh nursed the L D Silva trained filly steadily into the lead soon on turning for home.

While Sweet Dancer was in third, the other strongly fancied runner Bomber never really found a good rhythm although he raced closed behind Bellagio and Sweet Dancer, tucked-in in the mid-bunch. It was Bellagio all the way as she made a quick headway approaching the distance post and only had to keep the momentum going and none from behind threatened to pose a challenge. Bellagio won comfortably by about two lengths. Resurgence finished-on well to beat Sweet Dancer for the runner-up slot.

Morior Invictus (Tenth Star – Tango River) produced a blazing turn of foot to snatch the lead away from Salisbury in the final stages of the race. Salisbury, the favourite, improved positions approaching the home turn and stayed clear of the traffic to make a steady forward move soon on straightening up. Morior Invictus also took the turn wide and took a couple of strides to get going.

Salisbury moved past the bunch in front smoothly to take charge with less than 400 to go. He shaped well and looked on course when he skipped ahead and built a slender lead but with Coming Home Gurbaaz and the rest not really accelerating, Salisbury seemed in control. However, jockey Mukesh Kumar set Morior Invictus alight approaching the distance post and the Faiyaz Khan trainee picked up terrific speed to swoosh past Salisbury inside the final 100 meters to sail away and score a comfortable victory. Salisbury looked good until overwhelmed by the winner, while Coming Home edged out Gurbaaz for the pace money.

Battle scarred Lock Stella (Mount Nelson – Passionate Girl) took her win tally to five, the last win coming in January 2020 when she won twice in a week’s time. Five Kilo claimer RS Jodha took off quickly with Loch Stella eventually making every post a winning one. The four to one second favourite was followed closely by Aibak and Classy Dame all the way into the homestretch.

Loch Stella accelerated fluently once they turned for home, but favourite Aibak was not as fluent in his stretch run. He threw his head to the side and never really was in a rhythm as such. Classy Dame stuck by Aibak even as Loch Stella drew away from the pair. The Satheesh trained mare was well in control and sped further away to notch up victory by more than three lengths. Aibak wrested the runner-up slot by a short-head from Classy Dame while Rhine improved to finish fourth.

Vision of Rose (Strong Suit – Sheikha) was backed to the exclusion of the others and sure enough won without any worthy challenger in sight. The race panned out as if it was scripted as Vision of Rose shot out of the innermost draw and dashed into the lead. Vision of Rose entered the straight with Arcadian Angel close behind. Jockey Santosh Raj didn’t have to work hard at all as Vision of Rose kept increasing the lead with every stride and soon was out of bounds for the rest. The Shashikanth trained filly won by a whopping margin of nearly seven lengths while notching up her maiden success on her sixth start. What’s intriguing was the confidence with which she was backed down to even money! My Master came from behind to beat the rest for the minor placing with That’s My Way taking the third spot.

Jockey Akshay Kumar was the lone pro to score a double.