“What a horse! He’s simply superb.” These were some of the various glowing tributes showered on Mystical paid by the racing buffs at Mahalaxmi racecourse when he made his rivals look pedestrian in the A. C. Ardeshir Trophy (Gr.2) on Sunday. Asked to defy 62kg on his back and going over a trip that appeared sharp at a cursory glance, Mystical (Alnasr Alwasheek – Mystic Memory) once again marvelled his fan-following with an absolute gem of a performance over the mile journey. The terms of this group two event were not in favour of the country’s highest rated horse and he was asked to concede chunks of weight to Democraticus and the rest. With some handicappers and market pundits working overtime, it was discovered if any horse had the might to floor Mystical over this mile trip, it was Democraticus especially as he was in receipt of a whopping 8.5 kilos from the champion. As soon as the punters started to logic in this assessment, money began to flow Democraticus’ way at a faster pace than Mystical. Mystical and Democraticus virtually became joint favourites towards the close of the betting for this race. Hawke Bay assumed his customary front-running role when the gates opened while S. Padmanabhan trained Democraticus was settled in a striking slot by Niall McCullagh. S. Ganapathy’s star performer lay unconcerned in the mid-bunch and was alerted to his task by B. Prakash only when the race took a serious turn. Democraticus expectedly took charge of the running when Hawke Bay retired but Mystical loomed large before he could settle in the comfort zone. Words fail when it comes to describing the fluency with which Mystical went past Democraticus. Mystical completed his demolition drive by rewriting his own course record and ended five-lengths clear of the Democraticus in a new time of 1 minute 34.65 seconds for 1600metres at Mahalakshmi. Amazing Power ended a poor fourth behind Live Legend. Ganapathy had earlier led in Southern Empire (Placerville – Stunning) who went through the motions of annexing the Super Mile Trophy. Southern Empire was not extended when he ended a good seven lengths ahead of stable-mate Newfoundland with Harish astride Major Wager unable to do justice to his mount after his right stirrup was damaged at the start. Ruben Star was once again a big let down for the punters. Ruben Star was competing in Class II handicap race after his embarrassing defeat in the Nanoli Stud Pune Derby and was expected to redeem himself. But his mission failed. Imtiaz Sait saddled Beyond Belief (Warrshan – Leit Motif) instead availed this opportunity to register his third career victory. The placement theory of Imtiaz was such that Beyond Belief was carrying feather weight on his back and played an instrumental role in the narrow win over Crown Court which was accomplished start-to-finish by P. S. Chouhan. Crown Court came agonisingly close to beating the winner but his late warming-up task put paid to the hopes of Pesi Shroff’s candidate. As for Ruben Star, unconfirmed reports suggest that he may have a sesamoid problem which is hampering his performances. Disaster was averted in the curtain raiser when Pramod Belose failed to keep Fiery Fortune on an even keel just as the Magansingh Jodha trained son of Hymn was close to devouring the sparingly raced filly Gaea (Placerville – Zuni). The half-money favourite from C. D. Katrak’s barns had slipped in to the lead but started to swish her tail when Kamlesh used his whip. Fiery Fortune meanwhile appeared on the scene but his rider couldn’t capitalise and provided Gaea an escape route. Silken Sunrise finished a faraway third with Wow Factor close behind. Narendra Lagad’s ward Spica wasn’t as lucky as Gaea and had to suffer defeat at the hands of second favourite Sharp Memory (Major Impact – Zaka). The Saeed Shah trained filly got straight down to business as the gates opened but had company in the form of Spica on the outside. So beautifully poised was Spica that at one stage it appeared that she would go cruising past Sharp Memory. But Jodha and Sharp Memory were in no mood to relent and held on gallantly all the way to the wire. Spica’s barn-mate Flashing Flame finished an impressive third. Julpha (Excalibur’s Lake – Calendar Girl) from Bharath Singh’s yard scored an upset in Dr A. Karmally Trophy after the favourite Dreaming suffered interference from Etoile, who went out of control of jockey Anil Baandal’s hand after finding herself in the lead. She swerved so badly and that Niall McCullagh was destined for a much worse fate were it not for the alertness shown by him atop Dreaming. C. Rajendra ridden Nightlife became the new leader then which proved to be Imtiaz’s ward’s undoing in the end. Dreaming also made up the lost ground but wasn’t able to kick on when required. Julpha meanwhile stole a march over his rivals and R. Rupesh guided him to a comfortable win over Saarah, who could have done better. Secret Charm (Tirol – Sound Insight) was another long shot to win during the day. The Bezan Chenoy nurtured filly was powered by Malcolm Kharadi to a convincing win over favourite Win For Me. It seemed that the latter would oblige the favourite hunters when he overpowered Red Amytheist but Prashant could derive the energy from Win For Me to repel the onslaught of Secret Charm. Last ‘N’ Impression made a quiet appearance on the judges’ board which didn’t go quite unnoticed. Dancing Diva (Brave Hunter – Dance Move) ended the day on a high note for the punters when the Asad Siddiqui trained filly was steered to a confident victory by C. Rajendra. Second favourite Victor ended up in the runner-up berth but failed to put up the stiff resistance expected by many. Mazan retired to be a close third after running in the vanguard. Bonny Light on the other hand ran a leisurely fourth.