In a repeat of last year’s scenario when the Poonawalla Breeders’ Multi-Million (Gr.1) was hosted, the bay filly Excellent Lass emulated the feat of Elpenor when making her maiden foray at Mahalaxmi a winning one. Incidentally, Suraj Narredu, who had partnered Elpenor last year, steered Excellent Lass to glory on Sunday to earn his second successive victory in this event. No-hoper Storm Cloud hit the front when the eleven-horse field took off for the country’s richest juvenile race with Redefined joining him after tackling stable-mate Flight On. Field Of Dreams and Jade were in close attendance too. Redefined entered the straight first with Field Of Dreams taking the inner rail route whilst Flight On and Jade both trying to gain momentum. However, it was Antony Raj-driven Flight On who progressed to join Redefined at the two-furlong marker and gain the upper hand. Meanwhile, Excellent Lass, who had been racing behind Field Of Dreams towards the rails, was pulled out by Suraj and set in motion once the field had straightened for home. Flight On, who had assumed command, was ridden vigorously by Antony to hold on to the advantage, which he did till Excellent Lass was put into top gear. In one big leap, the Rajesh Narredu-schooled bay filly ranged alongside Field Of Dreams and then went gunning for Flight On. Suraj succeeded in extracting the best out of Excellent Lass (Excellent Lass – Remembrance Of You), who was in full flight thereon and overwhelmed Flight On in the last couple of strides before hitting the wire. The S. Zervan-piloted filly Field Of Dreams was not too far away when the two Bangalore contenders were disputing the issue, but she failed to muster the requisite dash and finished a close third. The same could be said about Jade, who ran fourth. Excellent Lass won by half-length from Flight On, who was a nose ahead of Field Of Dreams whilst Jade was three lengths away. The two well-fancied local challengers Dash and The Panther were missing from the battle front and finished off the board. Excellent Lass is co-owned by Messrs Daulat Chhabria, Ashok Ranpise, Teja Gollapudi and Rajendran and was bred by the Villoo Poonawalla Greenfield Farms.

The M. K. Jadhav nurtured four-year old gelding Exuma, who had finished a close fifth in the Indian Derby, franked his form and proved that he can very well stay till the cows come home when claiming the Mystical Trophy run over a mile and half.  Exuma lay in wait in the third slot as Giant King tried runaway tactics with Multiverse following him. As the five-horse field turned for home, Yash Narredu atop Giant King stepped up the pace with Regal Command charging through the rails to race alongside the leader whilst Neeraj Rawal and NS Parmar were both trying to make their presence felt astride Multiverse and Exuma respectively. When Exuma finally warmed up to his task, he finished with a burst to storm ahead of Giant King in the last hundred metres. Exuma (Australia – Bahama Bay) won convincingly over Giant King, who had Multiverse and late-finishing Gangster in close tow. Regal Command faded out in the final furlong to finish last.

Pesi Shroff-nursed filly Reminiscence also registered her third career win over six furlongs when she steamrolled her five opponents in the Florrie and Freddy Sopher Gold Trophy. Reminiscence hugged the rails as Esperanza seized the initiative and led the six-horse into the home stretch. Soon afterwards, PS Chouhan switched gears aboard Reminiscence to assume control of the running and cruised away for a facile win. The victor was ridden plain and heels on her way to victory and finished well clear of Majestic Warrior who edged out hard-ridden Fighton for the runner-up berth. Esperanza ended fourth. Dream Seller ran prominently with the leaders till the bend before dropping back to the last position and was reported to have bled through the nostrils during the race. Lord Vader struggled throughout.

Taking the decision of his master Nosher Cama to cut down his mission by two furlongs in his stride, five-year old Scaramanga took the toll of favourite Geographique in the Kumar R. Dalal Trophy run over a mile. Lesser fancied than only Geographique, Scaramanga missed the kick and lay at the wrong end of the field till the final bend. Earlier, Alpine Star dictated the terms and held on to the lead till Murwara Princess, Geographique and Vincent Van Gogh closed in on him.  Neeraj-ridden Geographique could not tackle the leader as she failed to find her rhythm. Meanwhile, CS Jodha brought Scaramanga wide into the straight and the bay horse started devouring ground when shown the daylight. The giant strides taken by Scaramanga saw him join the front-running pack and overtake Geographique, who had just gained the upper hand over Alpine Star, in the last hundred metres. Scaramanga (Quasar – Zana) spared a length to the favourite at the wire. Alpine Star finished in the money just ahead of Vincent Van Gogh, who was unable to accelerate when asked for a response by Chouhan.

Young Aman Hussain-groomed Raise The Stakes delivered a knock-out blow to her thirteen maiden rivals with her blazing speed in the Intervalve Poonawalla Ltd Trophy. Making a belated debut, Raise The Stakes, who is bred as half-sister to Ahead Of His Time, was second in demand to the on-money favourite Mumtaz from Shroff’s yard but she took off brilliantly from the gates and made every post of the six-furlong sprint a winning one in the hands of Mustakim Alam. Mumtaz was in hot pursuit of Raise The Stakes (Roderic O’Connor – Equine Lover) but was outpaced all the way by the winner. Shambala made a late dash to finish second ahead of Quicker and Ocean.

Adhirajsingh Jodha-schooled Winter Agenda received a confident ride from apprentice MS Deora as he made a pillar-to-post bid over the seven-furlong journey for the Goolam E. Vahanvati Trophy. C. Umesh-steered El Greco fought a pitched battle with Winter Agenda (Win Legend – Integra) in the last furlong but Deora managed to guide his mount to a neck victory over his rival. Favourite Christophany was hard-ridden but had to settle for the third place ahead of Walter.

Though neglected in the betting ring as Ariyana Star attracted a majority share of the betting in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy (Div-II), trainer S. Waheed’s ward Street Sense gave a gritty display to earn her maiden success. Street Sense (Shifting Power – Sun Absolute) snatched the lead from Ariyana Star shortly after the start and successfully warded off the threat from both Sonic Boom and Ariyana Star, who were in pursuit from the start. Ariyana Star got stuck towards the rails and Neeraj, her saddle partner, could not get the desired opening when the filly was getting stronger at the finish. Neeraj was forced to switch lanes following which Ariyana Star made a gallant attempt to catch the winner but S. Zervan packed enough punch in his riding to secure a short-head verdict for Street Sense. Sonic Boom found the going tough in the closing stages of the race and ended third ahead of Lightning Blaze.

Faisal Abbas-nurtured Dufy, who had left the maiden ranks with a narrow victory on Derby day, registered an encore with a runaway victory in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy (Div-I). Trevor Patel got Dufy (Kingda Ka – Magdalena) to head the field after taking a smart jump from the barriers and then shrugged off both Toscana and Eloquent’s bid to catch him soon after entering the final run-in. Dufy skipped away for an easy win thereafter. Eloquent ended second and was a nose ahead of Coin Empress, who found her galloping shoes late. Toscana ran fourth.