Top gun Sandesh Akhade can do no wrong. And the leading saddle artiste again got it all right galloping to glory on Time And Tide in the Zavaray Poonawalla Sprinters' Cup and Ramiel in the Coromandel Gromor Stayers Cup on the eve of the HPSL Indian Turf Invitation Cup at Guindy on Saturday. The star performer on a hot classic winning streak, back after booting home three Derby winners at  three different centres, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai was at his best and the railbirds at Guindy understanding that it will take a while for the Madras Race Club to again play host to this two-day racing extravaganza provided the champion `Knight' a standing ovation, aware of the fact that Sandesh could well make it a clean sweep, winning the Champion Of Champions event on the favourite Ranquelino on Super Sunday. 

Astride the best sprinter on the Indian racing circuit, Time And Tide from Adhiraj Singh Jodha's yard, Sandesh didn't really need to do anything special. The top saddle artiste only needed to gain a favourable position early on in the sprint and like we mentioned he could do no wrong, Sandesh quickly gained the box seat behind the leader Miss American Pie before he reminded the overwhelming favourite of the task ahead and Time And Tide responding brilliantly to his master's call, shot through to put the race to bed even before the race came on a boil. The reigning champion from the Mukteshwar Stud Farm again proved that he is in a class of his own in sprint events and all credit to Adhiraj and the team from Mukteshwar who are consistently making their presence felt on the big scene. The Kolkata hopeful Meropi partnered by young Yash Narredu followed the winner home ahead of Masato, while Miss American Pie hung on to complete the frame. 

In the energy-sapping Stayers Cup run over a distance of 3000 metres, Sandesh astride Ramiel from Bharath Singh's yard chose to bide his time before timing his final challenge to a nicety. The long shot from the City Of Joy, who had won his last start over 2800 metres in emphatic fashion at his parent-centre proved that he was equal to the big task on  the big stage, producing his best to outclass his eight rivals including the pipping hot favourite Truth from Sreekant's yard who was touted a `moral certainty' before the big event. The Kolkata Derby Casteel too was quietly fancied to emerge the top Stayer by the Satish Narredu camp, but he found the elite company too hot to handle and surprisingly failed to make the board. Mescalito finished third behind the runner-up Truth, while Golden Thunder after prominently racing in the front group lacked the gas in the tank to make an impression at the all-important end and finished a poor fourth. 

The friendless Sweet Fragrance from Krishna's yard pulled the plug and fused out all the followers of form, winning the Bangalore Turf Club Million run over a distance of nine furlongs. The winner, who paid out a whopping 1,269 on a tenner at the Bengaluru tote window edged out another rank outsider Wolf Creek from James McKeown's yard and the Vijay Singh-trained Vivaldi in a pulse-pounding cluster finish. Inspire from trainer Arjun Manglorkar's yard was fancied sweetly, but the top public choice it is learnt broke down approaching the final curve and returned home lame. Second in demand at the betting ring, Booster Shot from the stables of leading Kolkata trainer Patrick Quinn never got going and eventually finished in the ruck.

A smart winner on debut at Bengaluru on Derby day, Perfect Legend from the stables of Warren Singh, on the strength of that performance was fancied most in the RCTC Million run over a distance of seven furlongs and the talented colt justified the confidence of his supporters in style making every post a winning one in the hands of leading saddle artiste Suraj Narredu, sparing more than four lengths to the second placed Elfin Knight, who too had his fair share of supporters, but found Perfect Legend too hot to handle on this day. Grey Beauty surprised many taking the third spot ahead of Straordinaro, while Disciple from Arjun Manglorkar's yard performed below par and failed to even save money in place. 

After Excellent Lass opted out of the Sans Craintes Stud Million, Bharat from the strong stable of Prasanna Kumar was backed to the exclusion of his eight rivals and the top fancy in the hands of Akshay Kumar without being unduly extended powered home to the delight of the railbirds. The local mainhope Royal Defender in the hands of the promising Mukesh Kumar followed the winner home, while lesser fancied Andorra partnered by five-kilo claimer Ritesh Gochhi did well to take the third spot ahead of Swarga. 

Despite the fact that the Prasanna youngster Thessalian had come here with a good suggestive run under his belt, punters chose to support the Darius Byramji schooled Victoria Maker in the Justice Kuldip Singh Memorial Million for juveniles run over a distance of seven furlongs. Thessalian after his educative maiden effort hit the front soon after the six juveniles came under the starter's flag and never let the initiative slip, providing the young Vivek an arm-chair ride to success. Victoria Maker making his debut did well to edge out Lightning Blitz at the shadow of the winning post after racing `green' early on in the race. The winner is a goodtype of youngster and it will pay to follow his progress in the Bengaluru summer season. Victoria Maker, it is needless to mention will benefit most from this exercise and will prove to be a different proposition next time out. 

The half-money favourite King Ke came up tops in the Mysore Race Club Million, not before the eight to one shot Luca from McKeown's yard provided a big scare resolutely hanging on to the advantage gained in the straight before Vivek in a never-say-die bid got the public rage to produce a strong finish to edge out the runner-up by the shortest of margins. Star Honour was another from the Satish Narredu camp who was fancied very strongly in place, but the five to one shot shot his bolt at the top of the straight and only managed to finish third much to the disappointment of his supporters. 

The Warren Singh schooled Dhanteras garnered maximum support in the opening event, but the heavily backed favourite found the eight to one shot Win Win too hot to handle and finished a tame third much to the chagrin of his large following who had fancied him as one safe bet in the eight-event card.