Wind Sprite, the bay four-year-old colt cared for by Leo D’Silva, was out on the tracks thirteen times as a juvenile and spent over a year as a maiden before he finally hit the bull’s-eye on Tuesday. D’Silva’s decision to remove the blinkers and tongue-strap seems to have done the trick for Wind Sprite (Roderic O’Connor – Praise Of Folly), who was taken on a pillar-to-post mission by K Mukesh Kumar and stayed put all through the seven-furlong trip. Resurgence was always in pursuit of Wind Sprite but failed to quicken when urged by Surya Prakash. Favourite Nucleus, who was expected to improve on his debut performance, was ridden well of the pace by Mohit Singh and made his presence felt at the fag end of the race. Had Mohit been a little more enterprising, the result might have been different. The same could be said of Ajeeth Kumar astride Das (formerly Fast Track), who recently shifted from Prasad Raju to Anant Vatsalya’s stables. Suffering all the antics of his saddle partner in the last furlong, Das managed to finish a close fourth. Saint Emilion ran prominently before ending fifth. It was reported that Nucleus had suffered a testicle problem after the race though it remains undetermined whether it had affected his performance.

With Akshay Kumar to guide his fortunes on this occasion, D Netto trained All Time Legend ran true to form as also the expectations of punters. All Time Legend (Top Class – Angeling) made steady improvement at every stage of the six furlong sprint to join leaders Ok Boss and Malaala at the turn. With little over a furlong left for home, Akshay spurred All Time Legend to overtake the leaders and the favourite sped away to score an overdue victory. Rafique Sk. ridden Unsung Hero had to switch lanes after being denied a clear run in the straight and had to settle for the second berth despite coming with a tremendous burst towards the end. Malaala ended a fair third ahead of Briar Ridge, who found the weight a stopper.

MS Parmar saddled Shazam provided Akshay with his second winner of the day. City Of Bliss showed good initial speed and call the early shots with Shazam settled in a striking position close behind. Akshay drove Shazam to snatch the lead in the final furlong and proved too good for his rivals. City Of Bliss managed to retain the runner up spot ahead of Beauty On Parade, who displaced Shazam as the favourite in the betting. The mare hailing from Netto’s yard was entrusted to rookie Sonu Kumar, who rode her as if he was going for a morning canter. Beauty On Parade lacked the spark and ended a tame third, a neck ahead of Indian Temple. Four One Four stopped galloping in the straight after being in distress.

The five-year-old mare Euphoria had done nothing worth taking note of till date yet she struck immediately on relegation to give Parmar his second winner of the day. Jockey B Nikhil was cautioned to be more vigorous in his efforts when he last rode the mare. Nikhil was indeed vigorous on this occasion astride Euphoria (Stardan – Ocean Legacy) who had over a month of rest for obvious reasons of course. Those in the know took a punt on her chances ahead of Challenger and the mare didn’t disappoint them. Bottom-weighted longshot Paree hit the front with apprentice Sonu Kumar in saddle and almost made it before Euphoria was alerted by Nikhil in the last furlong and half. The joint favourite unleashed a stupendous run as she came through the shortest way home to pip Paree a few metres away from the wire.  Challenger failed accelerate in the straight and ended in the money ahead of Good Tidings, who was ridden by A Vikrant in place of Akshay and she seemed to have saved her best for some other day.

Parmar had another well-backed candidate in It’s On, who was bidding for an encore. However, the mare was unable to counter the brilliance of S Sreekant groomed Blazing Jupiter, who had a lot of smart money flowing his way in the betting ring. Blazing Jupiter (Green Coast – Justicia), entrusted to Ajeeth Kumar on this occasion, duly obliged as he entered the winner’s circle after a gap of almost two years. The bay seven-year-old was ridden off the pace as Gusty Note dashed into the lead ahead of Vision Of Rose, who assumed command in the last furlong or so. Blazing Jupiter started to gain ground rapidly while It’s On shifted in when whipped by Nikhil. The former wore down Vision Of Rose in a close finish with It’s On and Pinatubo also making a dash for the wire. Vision Of Rose and It’s On finished in the money while Salisbury edged out Pinatubo for the fourth place. Pinatubo, though havimg finished fifth, ran a notable race as he was denied a clear passage towards the inner rails and got squeezed out of contention in the melee close home.

Sreekant and Ajeeth had both started their day on a winning note when Sound Echo shed her maiden status. The four-year-old filly gave a speedy display and made every post of the scurry a winning one. Ajeeth astride Sound Echo (Crimson China – Analyst) quickly had the filly in the front and kept her going to ward off the late bid of Canterbury. Ayur Tej was in chase throughout and finished third ahead of the gingerly ridden Pancho.

After playing second fiddle thrice in succession earlier, General Atlantic was bang on spot when confidently ridden by Gaurav Singh. Trainer Ravinder Singh’s ward went straight down to business as the gates opened and showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals. Miss Marvellous made a late dash but could only reduce the margin of defeat. Char Ek Char ran prominently and ended third, well ahead of City Of Blessing. Painted Apache ran hopelessly though not for the lack of ability.

Ice Berry though running over a sharp trip of six furlongs showed a good turn of foot to complete an encore. With her regular rider apprentice RS Jodha back in saddle, K Satheesh nursed Ice Berry (Corporate Jungle – Velvet Queen) defied the handicapper with a fluent win. Ice Berry tracked Golden Forza till entering the straight and overwhelmed him in the last furlong. Jodha drove her plain hands and heels for a convincing victory over Royal Star, Angel Tesoro, Coming Home and Golden Forza who finished in a huddle behind.  Coming Home, ridden by Mohit Singh who substituted Akshay in the saddle, ran as good as Good Tidings did in the previous race.