Shazaan Shah trained Joaquin (Saamidd – Phoenix, Hazara Stud) trounced the opposition in the Class I Serjeant At Arms Trophy, scoring his sixth career victory in a runaway fashion. Jockey Zervan eased Joaquin out of the gates and showed no undue hurry, sitting at the tail end of the field of four all the way until into the straight. St Andrews and Gazino were up in front early in the homestretch, with Golden Guest following a length away.  Joaquin picked up speed and within strides pounced upon his rivals and romped home in style without encountering any threat. Zervan had her on cruise mode all the way, pulling off an emphatic victory by close to six lengths. Gazino finished second well ahead of Golden Guest.

Faith (Admiralty – Peritomoreno, Sohna Stud) produced a scorching turn of foot opening throttle in the final furlong and a half and stormed past early leader Divine Thoughts and on-money favourite Inishmore to score her second victory following her debut win in mid-February. Divine Thoughts made the early running with Inishmore close behind; Faith raced a couple of lengths behind in third, while the three other debutantes did not measure up to it.

Inishmore moved up and had barely begun to challenge Divine Thoughts when jockey Trevor alerted Faith to go for it. The Pesi Shroff trainee responded with a crisp gallop and dashed past the fighting duo to go clear in the final furlong. This was an even better performance as Faith showed tremendous acceleration power and completely outpaced her two main opponents with ease. Inishmore saved some blushes taking the runner-up slot, fighting hard all the way to beat Divine Thoughts narrowly.

Malesh Narredu trained Hooves of Thunder (Win Legend – Nafteta, Dashmesh Stud) scored his maiden victory by a narrow margin. Jockey Trevor had to be ridden out all the way as he had to quell a late challenge from Fashion Icon at the business end.

Mont Blanc led the field home with Hooves of Thunder waiting to pounce on him. Hooves of Thunder, offered at cramped odds, moved under the whip and dashed past the leader to build up a handy lead. He had a couple of lengths advantage when Fashion Icon began to chase him down. With a furlong to go, Hooves of Thunder was pressed hard by Trevor and the gelding galloped on determinedly all the way. Fashion Icon tried hard to catch up and she did bridge the gap in the final few strides, but Hooves of Thunder never really looked in any real danger. He managed to ward off Fashion Icon, winning by a half a length. The rest were a distance away.

Imtiaz Sait trained Sinner (Excellent Art – Isn’t She Special, Poonawalla Stud) also notched up his maiden victory on his fifth start. Sinner sailed out of the gates and hit the front on settling down and kept a good momentum going.

Into the straight, Sinner had a slender lead with Murwara Princess and Nord on either side. Midas Touch was not gaining much but was trying hard to stay in contention. Irrepressible started to cover ground with Speculator and Chancellor the widest of all. Trevor worked his magic well and kept Sinner going and they maintained a slight advantage in the final furlong. Irrepressible was the fastest of the beaten lot, but she could not topple Sinner although she closed-in on him. Sinner won by half a length from Irrepressible with Speculator beating Chancellor for place money.

Karthik trained Aira (Varenar – Sayuri, Equus Stud) took full advantage of the weights to pull off a neat start-to-finish victory. Aira led them all the way and once they turned for home, Aira stole a march and skipped away from Aah Bella. Mystical Rose could find her rhythm and did not pick up in the straight. It was Aira all the way with jockey Vishal Bunde in the saddle playing a perfect foil and landing the spoils, winning comfortably from Aah Bella by just under two lengths. Chieftain added further misery to Mystical Rose by beating her by a length for the third.

Dali Swirl (Roderic O’connor – Pandora, Poonawalla Stud) justified the strong support he enjoyed and churned out a splendid performance to earn his first winning bracket on his third start. He was way superior to this bottom class set of horses as he shot ahead from the word ‘go’ and  never let anyone even come close to him.

He grew stronger in the straight and apprentice jockey Prakash rode the Faisal Abbas trainee out confidently, building up on the handy lead tha the enjoyed early in the straight. He galloped on merrily in the final furlong to win without being challenged. Charlie improved positions to finish a good second ahead of Hyperdimensional. Brilliant Light could have done better, but he weakened after being prominent until the distance post.

Subhag Singh trained Marlboro Man (Royal Gladiator – Moneypenny, Pratap Stud) was deftly ridden out by jockey TS Jodha. He had Amped and Cognosco right alongside as they turned for home. The trio were stuck together with Marlboro Man slightly ahead approaching the distance post. Jodha rode out vigorously all the way and Marlboro Man kicked on gamely in the final furlong to achieve his second win of the season and sign off the season on a bright note. Amped hung on close behind to finish less than a length behind the winner warding off fast finishing Alpha Gene.

MK Jadhav trained Jetfire (Total Gallery – Daffodils, Bishen Stud) put in a powerful burst in the final furlong to clinch a comfortable victory in the concluding race of the day. It didn’t seem all that easy for Jetfire as he had a wall of horses in front of him soon on turning for home. Blazing Bay was leading them all and Fleur De Lys was going all out in chase. Flash Force crept up alongside the duo with Arabian Phoenix joining the fight.

Jetfire, with Parmar in the saddle, made steady progress and poked through the gap approaching the distance post. Once he got the clear run, Jetfire scorched the turf and blew the field away to surge ahead and win by a comfortable margin of two and quarter lengths. Flash Force ran a good second just ahead of Fleur De Lys and Blazing Bay.

In the last race, jockey Zeeshan and apprentice Mustakim Alam fell off their mounts in the straight. Fortunately, both escaped with minor bruises. Next Stop The Moon, however, had to be euthanized on humanitarian grounds, while Red Carnation was unhurt.

Jockey P Trevor was the star performer of the day, scoring a fine treble.