Trainer Narendra Lagad cerainly believes in making hay while the sun shines as was evident when he led in his ward Golden Neil to the winner's enclosure for the second time within a week. The four-year old gelding had claimed a runaway victory last Sunday for which he incurred a 6kg penalty. But that did not deter Lagad from asking Golden Neil to go for the Kumar R Dalal Gold Trophy, where he was to take on some seasoned campaigners.  

Apprentice Mustakim Alam, whose confidence in growing by the day, showed no undue haste and let Arcana enjoy a long lead in the initial stages of the mile trip. Mustakim unleashed Golden Neil (Excellent Art - Mauna Kea) after Arcana had blown up all her fuel on her way into the home stretch and went surging clear in the last two furlongs. Pride's Angel late surge got him the runner up berth ahead of In Contention and Rambler. Thunberg and Rasputin, the two fancied runners, failed to progress after running prominently behind Golden Neil till the final run in.

Jockey Trevor Patel had cent percent results and 1achieved a popular treble including debutant Christofle from Pesi Shroff's yard. Backed down to the exclusion of his rivals, Christofle (Le Havre - Enzina) lay in wait behind Big Red, Rush and Aloysia till the field straightened for home and the winner was spotted a long way from home when Trevor eased his grip on the reins. Christofle cruised past his opponents in a trice and Trevor thereafter rode the colt plain hands and heels for a smashing debut.

Earlier, Trevor ended Malesh Narredu-schooled Beyond Measure's long wait to enter the winner's enclosure. Ridden well off the pace over the Derby trip and given his head as the field approached the final turn, Beyond Measure (Australia - Magali) took out the front runners Michigan, Come Back Please and Mighty Wings one by one to assume command opposite the grand stands. Beyond Measure then kept going under the whip and had Come Back Please, stablemate Amber Knight and Lightning Flame following him home.

Faisal Abbas-groomed Singer Sargent, the shortest priced runner of day, was confidently steered to victory by Trevor. Singer Sargent (Kingda Ka - Proserpine) was far off the frontrunners as the heads turned for home but the bay gelding displayed a splendid of foot when Trevor set him alight. The half-money favourite's devouring run took toll of Hagibis who had all but pulled off a start-to-finish win. Attained finished third ahead of Balenciaga.

An effort similar to that of Singer Sargent saw Arabian Phoenix stun favourite Magileto virtually in his last stride. Magileto disliked  being restrained and fought successfully for his head with A Sandesh to assume command from Dali Swirl after travelling about two furlongs from the gates. Magileto was being hailed as a winner close home when K Nazil triggered a superb response from Hosidar Daji-nurtured Arabian Phoenix (Tenth Star - Zahour Al Yasmeen). The six-year old gelding moved resolutely in the last furlong to initially snuff out Great Guns's challenge and then rallied on to pip Magileto on the post. Great Guns ended a fair third ahead of Dali Swirl.

Sandesh, an hour earlier, had lost in an identical finish aboard Key To The Mint. The stage looked set for the Dallas Todywalla trainee's triumph as he was running over a shorter trip on relegation but found Souza (Shalaa - Kaiserwurde) playing spoilsport. Key To The Mint got straight down to business over the mile journey while Souza raced close on his haunches. Pesi Shroff trained Souza ranged alongside to challenge the favourite in the straight and Kirtish Bhagat gave a gutsy performance astride the winner as he fought every inch of the last furlong and half with Sandesh-ridden Key To The Mint and came out with flying colours. Treasure Gold finished on to be third and had Mysterious Girl close behind.

HJ Antia-trained Red Riot (Sussex - Gaea), who had a good rehearsal when finishing an unextended third behind stablemate Slam Dunk during the Derby weekend, earned his cornhill immediately after a positive change in the saddle. Red Riot went in pursuit of Spirit Bay over the sprint and was hard-ridden by TS Jodha as he swooped down on favourite Spirit Bay in the shadow of the post, hitting the wire a fraction of a second before C'est L'amour could nail him. Zukor, another fancied runner in this event, ended a close fourth.