Yes. It's Pesi Shroff yet again. The champion has made it a habit winning the summer classics at this centre and he did it again, the talented filly Fynbos from his yard, winning the first classic of the summer season, the Benaka Developers Fillies Championship Stakes on Sunday. The winner was the top choice for the classic run over a mile and she readily justified her top billing in the hands of leading pro Trevor Patel, who it must be mentioned produced a quality effort, judging the pace nice and true before timing his final assault to a nicety.  A confident Pesi Shroff in the morning revealed that the two hopefuls from his stable, Fynbos and Bishop would dominate the finish and in the showdown at sundown, the two star performers proved the boss right, providing the champion a 1-2 finish. 

Delighted with the result, Khusroo Dhunjibhoy disclosed that the filly has done no wrong after her maiden victory at her parent-centre (Mumbai) and the interference she suffered during the race in her last essay stopped her from displaying her true potential. "She enjoyed a good clean run today and over a trip she enjoys most, she came into her own, producing a winning gallop to register her first classic success in style," said Khusroo. Stablemate Bishop, who won her last start in emphatic fashion did produce her best, but that was just not good enough to stop the favourite from entering the classic circle. The Prasanna Kumar-trained Mountain Jewel charged home late to finish third, edging out the Hyderabad hopeful Northern Waves from Shashikanth's yard at the shadow of the winning post.
 
The Chouhan schooled Vegatha, who lost out to Bishop, only a `neck'  separating the two in their last head-to-head clash in Mumbai, despite a saddle slip, reared up at the start and lost all her chances at the gate.  Fynbos' next target will be the Derby scheduled to be held on Sunday, July 13 and the top filly up against the top colts at this campus will need to up her game to help her boss record a Grand Slam (fourth successive Derby) at his favourite centre. 

The Amokbash Million split into two divisions saw the two fancied contestants nail bold colours to the mast. In the upper division the Chennai raider Akitania was fancied most on the strength of her consistently pleasing performances on the trial track and the James McKeown trainee in the hands of Umesh displayed good turn of foot to zoom past the leader Konkrah and romp home a deserving winner. The Warren Singh schooled Double Your Money making his debut was strongly fancied in place and the debutant showed good pluck and guts to snatch the third spot ahead of the second favourite Mnemosyne.

In the lower division, the Rajesh Narredu-trained Indian Brocade and Flight Of Fancy from the stables of Darius Byramji topped the betting board before big money started to flow on Indian Brocade. The overwhelming favourite in her maiden appearance delighted her connections producing a superb sprint to outclass Flights Of Fancy and power home by a widening margin of six lengths. Indian Brocade appears a very goodtype of a youngster and her progress this season will evoke considerable interest in the big circles. Flight Of Fancy and Supernal too have the ability to make a mark and it will pay to support the two when saddled next. 

The five to one shot Mandarino from the stables of Irfan Ghatala reigned supreme in the Stewards Cup, the principal added attraction run over a distance of seven furlongs. The Sulaiman Attaollahi-trained Positano garnered the maximum support on the strength of his many notable performances in the classic events. Positano in fact had finished ahead of Mandarino in the Indian Invitation Cup at Guindy over a mile-and-half trip, but on this day crossing swords over a 1400 metres journey, Positano despite being favourably placed at the top of the straight proved no match to the winner, who in nonchalant fashion zipped past him to post a authoritative win. Invincible surprised most finishing third ahead of Stellantis, while the Mumbai hopeful Thundering Phoenix, who was advantageously placed at the scales found this company too hot to handle. Mandarino, make no mistake is on top of his game and is certain to make his presence felt against the best at this campus, while the same cannot be advocated in the case of Positano, who to his credit has only a solitary victory from his eight starts.  

In the opening event for horses in the lowest class run over a distance of seven furlongs, the public choice Star Of India from Padmanabhan's yard showed a clean pair of heels to her eight rivals cruising home nice and easy by a big margin of seven lengths. The winner opened on-money favourite (70/100) before the price on the Padmanabhan ward kept going up and up and soon the price doubled on Star Of India from what was quoted at start (16/10). Many big bettors chose to stay away while the brave and bold followers of form stuck to the top fancy. And the good looking filly provided a reason to smile, making every post a winning one in the hands of Neeraj Rawal. The Lokanath schooled Recreator followed the winner home ahead of Embosom, while Verrazzano completed the frame.

The Irfan-trained Victoria Doresaani and the fit as a fiddle Vyasa from Darius Byramji's yard topped the list in the Parsiana Plate run over a distance of seven furlongs before the latter in the hands of in-form pro G Vivek produced a sparkling gallop at the all-important end to peg back the challenge of the favourite piloted by apprentice jockey Pavan. Star Concept finished third ahead of Aquamatic who appears to have lost form and is certainly not performing to the best of his ability. 

Spurred by the success on Vyasa, Vivek again produced a copybook effort on the favourite Knotty Scotty in the concluding event, the Richelieu Plate to sign off in style. The winner on the strength of his impressive victory in his last start garnered maximum support and the favourite readily justified the confidence reposed in him powering home to record his second straight victory. Stablemate Sassy Sarah, who had her fair share of followers found the winner too hot to handle and had to rest content with the runner-up berth. Thrill Of Blaze from the stables of Sajid Qureshi was sweetly fancied in place and the four-year-old filly finished on strongly to take the third spot to the delight of the Sajid camp.