The trend of on-money favourites returning victorious without a semblance of a fight took a break barring the success of Noble Heart on Monday. Hilton Sequeira-saddled Star of Night also carved a comfortable win in the Bhagyanagar Million, the day’s feature event. Despite carrying a heavy impost on his back, High Command was taken on a pillar-to-post mission by Ashhad Asbar while Star of Night lay unconcerned at the back end of the closely bunched six contestants. As Shadow of the Moon, Siddharth and NRI Superpower started to close in on the leader in the straight, BR Kumar also changed gears atop Star of Night and joined the front-running pack. Silver Act meanwhile failed to find an opening towards the rails as High Command shifted in towards the rails when Asbar tried to retain control of the lead. However, Star of Night came with a flourishing run when set in motion by Kumar and surged past High Command about a furlong and half before the winning post arrived. Star of Night (Excellent Art – Romantic Star) triumphed with a margin of comfort which exceeded her previous margin of victory over High Command. Siddharth, who was next-in-demand only to Star of Night, lost pace gradually after being prominent till entering the home stretch and faded out to finish last. Silver Act ran third while Shadow of the Moon ended fourth.

In a smart move, trainer Neelesh Rawal entrusted Freedom of Touch to apprentice Ajay Kumar following the filly’s lung-opener in the hands of Shamaz Shareef earlier this season. Freedom Touch made her handicap count as she took charge shortly after the field had sorted itself out and led merrily in the front. On entering the straight, the filly was challenged by Lifes Journey but it was Black Dust who came with a menacing run to challenge Freedom Touch in the final stages of the race. Black Dust was inconvenienced by Gloria when making his bid and by the time he could get a free run, Freedom Touch (Moonlight Magic – Freedom of Speech) was ridden confidently by Ajay to thwart the threat she faced. Black Dust went down by half-length but finished well ahead of Lifes Journey and Gloria.

Mystical Dawn graduated from the maiden ranks when pitted against older horses in a handicap event. The Vittal Deshmukh trainee was settled behind leaders Rolls Royce, who had a lot of smart money riding on him, and Most Beautiful till reaching the distance post. As Most Beautiful bowed out of the contest at the two-furlong marker, Asbar asked Mystical Dawn for an effort. The bay filly took some time before warming up to her task and fought a fierce battle with Rolls Royce who refused to buckle under pressure yet caved in eventually, less than a furlong away from home. Mystical Dawn (Smuggler’s Cove – Mykonos) got stronger at the finish and sailed away for a convincing win beating Rolls Royce by two lengths. Dontblockmyway and Path of Peace ran faraway behind in the third and fourth spot.

The day’s curtain raiser saw lesser fancied Authoritarian get the better of the fancied duo, Sharanga and State Man. No-hoper Red Hot Punch made the initial running and was followed closely by Sharanga and State Man while Gaurav Singh-ridden Authoritarian raced in the mid bunch. Sharanga was given his head by Akshay Kumar as the field straightened for home with K. Mukesh Kumar also getting busy aboard State Man when joining the former in tackling Red Hot Punch. Meanwhile, Authoritarian started to warm up and ranged alongside State Man, who had the measure of Sharanga after a brief tussle in the last furlong. M. Srinivas Reddy-trained Authoritarian (French Navy – Charging Tigress) was ridden resolutely by Gaurav and snuffed out State Man’s resistance about fifty metres from home. Sharanga finished third while La Quinta was a distant fourth.

Trainer K. Satheesh had an ace up sleeve in the form of Misty Night at the end of the day in the event, which was a ‘no whip’ race. Such was the flood of money that came Misty Night’s way that she ended as joint favourite with Calabasas, who was the ante post favourite to win the race. No-hoper Only The Brave hit the front with Glimmer of Hope trying to match strides with him in the early stages of the race. RS Jodha brought Misty Night (French Navy – Grey Mist) with a sustained run in the straight and overhauled Only The Brave in the home stretch. Misty Night then skipped away for an easy win over runner-up Calabasas, who struggled to catch the winner but in vain. Debutant Analysis came with a late run to finish a game third, a neck ahead of Only The Brave.

Donald Netto owned and trained Noble Heart, who had been off the track for ten months till making his first appearance last month, was backed to the exclusion of his rivals based on his impressive credentials. Star Medal hit the front as his wont and called the shots ahead of Quality Warrior and Federer with Noble Heart waiting for the opportunity to stage his entry, which came when the field straightened for home. Santosh Raj niggled Noble Heart (Top Class – Golden Queen), who moved forward steadily to surge past Star Medal and assert his superiority. Federer earned precious stakes for his connections by finishing runner-up for the second time in two days whilst Blue Pantheress was late on the scene and ended third ahead of Star Medal.

The long wait of Silver Arrow to taste success was finally over when the six-year old mare trounced the opposition in the lowest class. Ilene made the initial running over the mile trip whereas Silver Arrow was ridden off the pace till the halfway mark from where she started to make gradual progress. P. Sai Kumar rode A. Imran Khan-nursed Silver Arrow (Royal Gladiator – Cuix One) forcefully to overwhelm Ilene inside the final two furlongs and the grey mare stretched out well to win by a distance over Desert Sultan, who laboured hard to finish second after a lethargic start. Ilene ended third whilst favourite Muaser ran fourth without making any impact.