Northern Lights (lethal Force – Prescription, Usha Stud) trained by Pesi Shroff, made easy meat of his two rivals to win the JP Vazifdar trophy for class II horses. Bold Legend, who was expected to make it a fighting finish with his stablemate, simply packed up after leading them home and finished nearly a distance behind, even losing to Magistero the complete outsider among the trio.

Northern Lights, though, shone brightly as he picked up from being the last of three until into the straight, to cruise past his rivals and romp home to a thumping victory by over four lengths, without his jockey PS Chouhan having to put in much effort. The timing though was not the fastest as the initial pace was slow and that suited Northern Lights ideally, to save his best for the final burst.

Narendra Lagad trained Son Of A Gun (Top Class – Indian Serenade, Mukteshwar Stud) followed up his maiden win last time out with an even more impressive victory to clinch the Byram Jeejeebhoy Trophy without sweat. Son Of A Gun was out quickly and shot into the lead right from the word ‘go’. Distinction, the prime fancy, set off in chase with Mozelle along her inside.

Son Of A Gun looked far superior to the bunch as he took off in the straight and sealed the race as early as in the first half of the homestretch. While Mozelle improved that bit in the straight, Distinction ran green and was never focussed and was pretty much wayward in keeping his course. Son Of A Gun won well with jockey CS Jodha astride compiling his second win by a huge margin of nine lengths to Mozelle and Distinction. Royal Manor ended a tame fourth.

Shroff’s Presidential (Phoenix Tower – Riyaasat, Manjri Stud) justified the cramped odds and after a decent showing in the classics, dispatched his opponents with authority, scoring his second victory, the first coming on his debut in November last.

Majestic Warrior led the field with Flaming Fire in second, followed by Multistarrer and Evangeline racing together, Presidential was in no hurry as he raced with only Polyneices behind him.

Flaming Fire got the measure of Majestic Warrior soon on turning for home, but had Multistarrer and Presidential looming large on his outside. Flaming Fire wilted under pressure as Multistarrer surged ahead. Presidential picked up momentum in the final furlong and tackled the new leader with ease to zip ahead in the final few strides to win by close to two lengths. Multistarrer ran a good second finishing clearly ahead of Flaming Fire.

Eyes On The Prize (Planetaire – Queveda, Sohna Stud) certainly got what he was ‘looking’ for as he produced a good burst of speed in the homestretch to score a splendid win on his debut. He was behind a wall of horses as they turned for home, with Between Friends, Nusrat, firm favourite Intense Belief, and Red Dust in front of him. Jockey Rupesh showed patience and moved out deftly to get a clear run and then urged the Karthik trained debutante to pick up speed. Eyes On The Prize responded with a crisp gallop and in a moment or two sailed past the grappling four with ease. He was all by himself in the final furlong, kicking away from them all to win by a big margin of five and half lengths. Between Friends did well to hold on to the runner-up berth. Seminole improved to finish third beating Spiritual Rock for the place stakes.

Moonshot (Multidimensional – One Giant Leap, Usha Stud) trained by MK Jadhav, achieved his maiden success on his third attempt. The start of this race was a rough one with a couple of them jostling and bumping into one another. However, Cherished darted into the lead and things soon settled down.

Cherished shaped well on turning for home and built a handy lead. Faldo fell back as Moonshot made a forward surge. Brilliant Light was right with them but was erratic and started drifting outward, ending up on the fence on the stand side thereby losing all her chances. Moonshot, who had jockey Parmar struggling to keep him on even-keel at the start, found his rhythm and started to gallop fluently. Moonshot collared Cherish approaching the distance post and then accelerated smoothly to win drawing away. Cherished was lucky to finish second as Brilliant Light lost a lot of ground veering outward yet finished less than a length behind Cherished.

Jockey Zervan rode a confident race astride Fairmont (Quasar – Arusha, Ruia Stud) showing no hurry whatsoever right through the race. Beastia raced to the front approaching the final turn with Air Power and Mascara in pursuit; Lord Byron was right behind them while Willy Wonkaa, Fairmont and Verdandi followed as they turned for home.

Beastia had a sizable lead past the 400m with Mascara in chase, Lord Byron faded out surprisingly early, while Fairmont started to look prominent as she started to inch closer and caught up with Beastia inside the final furlong. Mascara fought hard but the Noshir Cama trainee was the fastest of the lot at the finish and Fairmont overhauled Mascara about a 100m from the post to score by just under a length. Verdandi arrived with a good burst, but Mascara tipped her nose at the wire to hold on to the runner-up slot by a whisker from Verdandi.

Superleggera (Net Whizz – Su Doku, Hazara Stud), from the Shazaan Shah stables, obliged a large following with a superlative gallop as he rocketed ahead in the homestretch to score an emphatic victory. She moved from the fifth or sixth position and was prominently poised for the final 400 meters.

Trinket snatched the lead as Dowsable and Enlightened were fighting alongside. Jetfire caught up with Trinket and that’s when Superleggera with Zervan astride began to quicken. Superleggera produced a scorching run and within strides bolted ahead and worked up good speed to sail further away from the rest. He faced no challenge and won it comprehensively by close to five lengths. Jetfire held on to the second spot as Cipher rallied well in the final 100 meters to beat Dreams comfortably while finishing alongside Jetfire.

For the professionals, trainer Pesi Shroff saddled a double, while jockeys PS Chouhan and S Zervan scored a double each.