Hot favourite Royal Companion (Glory of Dancer – Ippodamia) from the stables of Malesh Narredu won the Div I of the Rustomji Byramji Trophy with absolute ease and conviction. Flying out of the gates, jockey PS Chouhan guided Royal Companion to the front and in the straight quickened nicely to surge away to establish a winning lead. Absolute Reality tried to make a fight of it early in the straight, but petered out sooner than expected. Ptolemy warmed up only when Royal Companion had sewn up the race and ended a tame second. Royal Companion thus made ample amends for his narrow loss last time out.

This was the jockey-turned-trainer Malesh Narredu’s second winner of his budding career. PS Chouhan had earlier piloted Hills And Stars (Razeen – Altitude) to a maiden victory in the J Robinson Plate. Sitting well off the pace, Hills And Stars produced fine acceleration in the straight to collar leader Invictus early in the straight and romp home to win drawing away. Invictus ran on to end second ahead of Kathelynn. Gossip (Black Cash – Estonia) was another three-year-old who secured her first victory in her second attempt.

Her last start faraway fourth was a fair outing and that experience combined with some good workouts on the morning track saw Gossip installed the firm favourite for the race. Racing well in touch of the leader, Gossip kept in close touch with the front-running Oriental Diana and once they straightened for home, Gossip came up full of steam to dart ahead. She worked up a good momentum and although Oriental Dawn ended close behind to Gossip, the Shyam Habbu-trainee looked the winner at least a furlong from the winning post. Cogito Ergo Sum (Key Of Luck – Highshaan) was another who broke the jinx and tasted the sweetness of victory. Going over the mile-and-quarter trip for the first time, Cogito Ergo Sum gave ample evidence that she has the stamina to go the distance and romped home to a runaway victory. Biding her time over a slow initial pace, the filly gathered speed into the straight and forged ahead with complete disregard to the field. Uruj, who was a bit slowly off, made up good ground towards the end to finish a faraway second.

Mega Bucks never recovered from a tardy start and languished a distance behind the field all through. He beat a receding Monks Ferrari in the final standing. Reinstate (Inhabitant – Arcade) shocked all and sundry when he returned to old form unexpectedly to completely outpace her rivals in the opening race of the day which included the heavily backed Evangilist. Hitting the front early, Reinstate entered the straight with a handy lead and then built further on the advantage to be clear approaching the final furlong. Evangilist tried hard to catch up, but Reinstate had enough to stay ahead comfortably past the winning post. Evangilist was all out in her effort and only managed to reduce the deficit. Sizzling Love, Guernica and Seen It All ended close to each other in that order. Star Vision and Conztanza garnered almost all the support between them with both camps confident about their own candidate.

The race panned out as expected and the well-backed duo went for it in the homestretch. They battled it out and it was difficult to spot the winner even metres from the winning post. In the final 100, Conztanza with Zervan in the saddle had a slight upper hand but could never breathe easy with Tograllu atop Star Vision given it his best shot. The pair was locked together at the wire and eventually Conztanza got the nod right. Bemisaal ran on to earn place money ahead of Rajdoot. Blessings was one of the well-backed favourites to go down fighting in the day which saw most fancied horses obliging. Blessings looked like he would pull it off as he surged ahead past the 400 and most of the main threats looking at best, likely to place.

Marudhara Ratan (Juniper – Let’s Twist Again), with apprentice jockey Ishwar Pardesi astride, suddenly started to get closer with every stride. Harish was going all out using all his skills to see Blessings through, but in the final furlong, Marudhara Ratan began to wear him down and surged ahead past the Grand Stands to shock the popular fancy, handing him a beating by over two lengths. Moment To Remember held on to the place berth ahead of Mcqueen. Marudhara Ratan provided apprentice Ishwar Perdeshi his first win this season. Hormuz Antia-trained Rising Glory (Black Cash – Serious Trouble) stretched his winning tally to three this season with a brilliant start-to-finish triumph. Setting off at a brisk pace, Rising Glory entered the straight and soon accelerated smartly to add turf between herself and her rivals and was soon out of bounds for the others to catch up. Harish made desperate attempts at justifying the support Swept Away received in the betting ring but found Rising Glory just too good on the day. Swept Away ended a well-beaten second. Walking Tall did well to capture the third spot in a close contest for the place money. Towering High and Red Tabasco ended close behind Walking Tall. Jockey PS Chouhan was the lone pro to score a double.