Astute placement of Rivaaz (Binkhaldoun–Taj Mahal) by her trainer Sanjay Kolse paved the way for the grey mare to clock her first victory this season in the Nawabzada Rashiduzzafar Khan Trophy. Rivaaz visited the race track on four occasions earlier but raised hopes only in her last run. Running for the first time in Class II, Rivaaz was settled in mid-bunch as All The Rage and Suraj wrestled with each other for the lead. Suraj led briefly before young D. K. Ashish changed gears on Rivaaz to pounce on Suraj and go sailing clear. Lesser fancied West Coast Eagle warmed up late in the long Mahalaxmi straight yet found the distance too short for his liking and had to settle for the second berth. Dedication too lay at the wrong end of the field and stretched out late to snatch the third place from All The Rage. Hugo failed to penetrate the wall of horses racing ahead when Malesh Narredu decided to make his bid and ended a close fifth, an encouraging one for his connections. Pesi Shroff saddled Astraea (Alnasr Alwasheek – Priceless Asset) made a winning debut but not before creating a minor flutter. She couldn’t take a fluent jump and when the heads turned for home Astraea shifted out violently to her left and took Melba towards the outer rails. Melba’s rider checked his mount but C. Ruzaan astride Astraea was unable to stop her from travelling on the outer sand. Jewel Star meanwhile continued to call the shots and for a moment an upset seemed to be on the cards. But Ruzaan held his nerve and brought Astraea into the reckoning once again. The filly came charging down and got up just in time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Starynessey found her footing late to end third ahead of Green Valley, who ran disappointingly after a sluggish start. Starynessey lodged an objection against the winner and was rightly termed as frivolous before being rejected by the Stewards. The Stewards were back in business soon when favourite Raiba protested against runner-up Medtia’s Pride and Open Season after ending a close fourth behind the K. P. G. Appu ridden winner Gates of Victory (Conquering Hero – Farmacologist). Medtia’s Pride hugged the inner rails as he showed the way to the field but veered out under pressure close home. The worst to suffer was Raiba as he got squeezed between Medtia’s Pride, Open Season and Gates of Victory, who had just arrived on the scene. Medtia’s Pride virtually opened the “Gates of Victory” for the Hormuz Antia trained gelding and Appu accepted the invitation open-heartedly. Both the objections of A. R. Mani were upheld and Raiba was promoted to second place while Medtia’s Pride was relegated to fourth spot behind Open Season. Struie (Razeen – So Romantic) from Bezan Chenoy’s yard sprang a surprise in the Radical Force Plate run over seven furlongs as many students of form believed that she might find the journey a trifle short. Struie had no such problem and she moved like a tidal wave crushing everything that came in her path when Aadesh Kumar asked her for an effort. Chagall, after taking charge from Radical Power, succumbed to Struie’s fury in the virtually the last stride. Aadesh was earlier associated with the success of S.N.Joshi trained Return of the King (Bee’s Prospector – Amorous Dancer) in the curtain raiser. This “framed” race actually was tailor-made for Return of the King and Sphinx as nothing much was expected from the other contestants. Sphinx was in control momentarily when he collared Indian Fashion and Queen’s Special but was forced to surrender by the hard-ridden Return of the King. Dance Maestro (Glory of Dancer – Jukebox) was so well-tuned by trainer Saeed Shah that the dark bay colt left his rivals stranded after assuming command from Winning Star, who yet again flattered to deceive. Debutant Zarzaitine ran on to divest Summertime Promise of the runner-up berth. Luvata had an educative run. The late flurry of unfancied Crespo could not stop Malcolm Kharadi driven Champions League (San Francisco – Issey Miyake) from earning a bracket this season. Nirad Karanjawala’s candidate had earlier disrupted the start-to-finish attempt of favourite Private Eye. Silver Girl finished a tame fourth. When the market-movers started showering attention on the Rehanullah Khan saddled Intimacy (Diffident – Weathering), unwarranted by a horse with a solitary non-descript debut run under her belt, the whiff in the air was far too intense for the smart punters to not know that something was cooking in the concluding race. The proof came stumbling out of the pot when Intimacy got straight down to business from the gates and won untroubled. None of the other contenders seemed willing to play party-pooper and deprive Ruzaan his second winner. Favourite Innovator ran aimlessly while Salazaar arrived far too late to ruin Intimacy’s plot. Acton Town suffered a minor interference at the start which became the basis of his poor show.