After three on-money favourites, Verrazzano, Mahler and Your Unforgettable cleaned out the punters in the first half of the programme on the eve of the blue riband of the season, the Zavaray S Poonawalla Derby,  smart last start winner Emphatic from trainer Padmanabhan's yard and the public rage Neptune from the stables of Karthik Ganapathy pulled a majority of followers of form out of the oxygen tent, providing them hope and more importantly a chance to strike it rich on the Derby-day. 

The Satish Narredu schooled Verrazzano was fancied most in the opening event, the Squanderer Cup run over a distance of seven furlongs. Pitted against seven mediocre rivals, Verrazzano was hotly tipped to score, but the heavily backed public choice piloted by leading pro Suraj Narredu met a tartar in Cascais from the stables of Azhar Ali, who in the hands of Akshay Kumar made every post a winning one. Sea Diamond finished third behind Verrazzano, while Royal Whisper, sweetly fancied in place failed in her mission to provide cheer, only managing to complete the frame. 

On the strength of his eye-popping performance on debut, flying home first from a hopeless position to beat Neptune over a distance of seven furlongs, the Sulaiman Attaollahi trainee was backed to the exclusion of his 10 rivals in the Delhi Cup. The fact that the extended mile long trip suited his style, most big bettors recommended Mahler as one safe bet in the eight-event card. But much to the chagrin of the big players, Mahler despite racing prominently up front went out of gas even before the race came on a boil and finished a tame third behind the runner-up Luca. Ten to one shot NRI Victory from Sajid Qureshi's yard confidently piloted by leading pro Antony Raj cruised home nice and easy to the delight of her master, who it must be mentioned is pulling out a rabbit from the bag to the delight of his owners. 

After the below par effort of Mahler pushed the big bettors back against the wall, Trevor and Sulaiman again combined to push the railbirds into the oxygen tent. Your Unforgettable competing in the Mysore Cup, back after her smashing debut was quoted at a miserly price (35/100) and much to the disappointment of a large following, the filly found another ten to one long shot, Star Of India too hot to handle in the final furlong and had to rest content with the runner-up berth. The slip in form was showing in this case and it hit the big investors hard. Most never recovered from the knock-out blow, while a small percentage of the brave and bold who survived the bush-fire recouped majority of their losses, two well supported favourites much to their relief coming good in the last two races. 

Spurred by the success of Cascais in the opening event, the Azhar Ali camp went bang-bang in the betting ring placing big bets on Agrador in the upper division of the Hooves Of Steel Million for juveniles run over a distance of seven furlongs. The MR Singh supporters in no mood to play second fiddle, deposited their money bags in their favoured stalls in the ring and soon what appeared a open race at the start now was turning into a straight contest with the two leaders on the betting board. The well bred and the expensive purchase Maana, good looking daughter of Yana despite the pedigree experts nominating her to score had no takers at the nourishing price (6/1).  But class proved decisive at end and the Darius Byramji trainee powered home from a none too happy position at the start to serve notice of her enormous potential. All credit to Antony Raj, who never lost hope after Maana failed to keep pace in the first couple of furlongs. The top pro in a never-say-die bid worked hard to get her going and once she got into her stride, the bred in the purple filly whizzed past the front runners to gain the verdict in a humdinger. 

The lower division of the event proved easy meat for the on-money favourite Neptune from Karthik Ganapathy's yard, who made every post a winning one in the hands of Sandesh. The winner, who lost out to Mahler in his last essay close home is in good nick and it will pay to keep an eye and support her when next saddled in the Pune season, starting on July 18. The Prasanna Kumar-trained Knotty Cruise followed the winner home ahead of Renoir, another in the favoured list to strike it rich early in Pune. 

In what was a true three-cornered contest, the Mallesh schooled Big Bay, Pesi Shroff-trained  Bishop and Ice Of Fire from the stables of Prasanna garnered good support in the Coromandel Gromor Bangalore Million, the plum event run over a distance of seven furlongs. Big Bay to the disappointment of his supporters walked out of the gates and to make matters worse for his rider Yash failed to keep pace early on in the race. Bishop who finished second behind Fynbos in the Fillies Championship Stakes after making a smashing appearance in his first start at this centre, it appeared had left his galloping shoes behind in his stable. This made it easy for Ice Of Fire and Trevor looking to make amends, failing on Mahler and Your Unforgettable, pulled out all stops, driving home the vastly improved in-form filly to a deserving victory. Twice winner from as many starts, Madras raider Echoes Of Time caught the eye while finishing a game second and it will not be long before this Pradeep Annaiah ward logs in his third win. 

Next astride the public choice Emphatic in the Chennai Cup run over a mile, a cool and composed Trevor unperturbed chose to race in the rear all through the back-stretch before he packed punch on the Padmanabhan ward at the top of the straight and Emphatic responding well to her master's call covered acres of ground before zipping past the second in demand at the betting ring Rock Bank. Bashir only managed to finish third and it was clear from this effort that the mile long trip is beyond his compass.

A impressive last start winner, Stravinsky and Blue God shared favouritism in the Kolkata Cup and the `Jodi' was considered safe. Well the two called the shots for most part of the seven furlongs trip before Stravinsky quickened at the all-important end to put the issue beyond doubt. Aquamatic from the stables of Azhar Ali surprised most finishing on purposefully at end to gain the runner-up berth ahead of Blue God.