After Margaretta emerged the frontliner for the Fillies Championship Stakes winning her maiden start at this centre in resplendent style, stablemate D'Artagnan decimated his five rivals including the Karthik Ganapathy-trained Buckingham, who had beaten D'Artagnan in their last head-to-head clash, comfortably despite shouldering three kilos more than the Shroff ward. Buckingham competing in the Karnataka Juvenile Million, enjoyed a big advantage, the Karthik trainee now receiving three kilos from D'Artagnan, who he had beaten giving three kilos in Mahalaxmi.

Never mind the reverse handicap, the Shroff camp was confident that D'Artagnan would settle a score taking into account that the champion trainer had judiciously prepared him for the Million event and D'Artagnan was raring to go. A smashing debutant Siege Storm from trainer Prasanna Kumar's yard was also fancied most and in fact opened a favourite despite the fact that he was pitted against two top colts from Mumbai. The Buckingham camp satisfied with the preparation of the big boy were bullish of his chances and before the six contestants came under the starter's flag, it was Buckingham who topped the betting board.

Nohoper Rambo from the stables of Shazaan Shah set a fast pace all through the seven furlongs trip. Antony Raj astride Buckingham followed the leader ahead of Siege Storm partnered by Akshay Kumar, while the in-form Vivek chose to play the waiting game on the Pesi colt. The moment Rambo retired at the top of the straight, Buckingham put his head in front for a couple of strides before Vivek put D'Artagnan in top gear and the classic hopeful whizzed past Buckingham and Siege Storm to put the race to bed a furlong from home. Siege Storm followed the classy winner home ahead of Buckingham, who performed poorly, finishing a good 10 lengths behind, even after gaining a big handicap advantage.

D'Artagnan on the strength of this superb performance is a strong contender for the Colts classic alongwith the two Prasanna hopefuls, Stud Poker and Iron Mirage, while Buckingham it appears has slipped down the ladder and it will be a herculean effort for the Karthik ward to make an impression in the Colts classic despite the fact that the mile long trip suits his style. 

A facile last start winner, Alfonsine from Pradeep Annaiah's yard produced another sterling performance to the delight of his supporters in the SG Madhukar Memorial Trophy run over a distance of seven furlongs. Despite the fact that Alfonsine won his last start in style, the Pesi Shroff schooled Zayyan garnered the maximum support in the betting ring, while the price on Alfonsine kept going up and up, the Prasanna ward quoted at (4/1). Ashhad Asbar guiding the fortunes of the winner tracked the leader Invincible for most part of the trip before he reminded the Pradeep ward of the task ahead at the top of the straight and Alfonsine responding brilliantly to his master's call assumed command and romped home in style. The winner is in rousing form and is set to complete a hat-trick of wins, when saddled next. Zayyan finished second ahead of Sunshine and it will pay to follow this Pesi Shroff trainee after this run under his belt. 

In the opening event, the Endorsement Plate for maiden three-year-olds run over a mile, Ashwa New York from the stables of Rajesh Narredu, who finished second behind Siege Storm and the Hyderabad challenger Digital Empress from the Deshmukh's yard were fancied most, but much to the chagrin of the followers of form the `Jodi' went out of the window and to the delight of the bookmakers, long shot Bartolino from Irfan Ghatala's yard piloted by the in-form apprentice Pavan gained the day edging out Digital Empress, while the top fancy Ashwa New York partnered by leading pro Suraj Narredu after being favourably placed at the top of the straight failed to match strides with the first two and had to rest content with the third spot. 

Pavan and Irfan successfully combined again to strike it rich on Night Raider, winner of the lower division of the World No-Tobacco Day Plate run over a distance of 1300 metres. The winner, who had caught the eye while finishing close second behind Mnemosyne with a late dash in his last essay, this time out made every post a winning one, pegging back the second in demand at the betting ring, Steely Challenge. The well-backed top choice Assurances from trainer Satish Narredu's yard after tracking Night Raider till the heads turned for home, it appeared had lost her galloping shoes, failing to even save money in place. Vibrant Queen, who also had her share of followers found the top two too hot to handle and eventually did well to finish third. 

The upper division of the event was claimed by the strongly fancied favourite Valiant Stream from trainer Sulaiman Attaollahi's yard.piloted by leading pro Akshay Kumar. The winner, who had let down large following in his last start made ample amends, outclassing his eight rivals without really extending himself. Agrador in his attempt to make every post a winning one lacked the gas in the tank to keep going in the final furlong and at end finished third behind Darrington. The four to one shot El Rey from the stables of James McKeown disappointed again and is best left ignored until he shows some spark in his next efforts. 

Pradeep Annaiah and sporting owner, P Arun Kumar spurred by the run-away success of Alfonsine pulled off a good gamble on Steffen in the upper division of the Aureole Time Plate run over a sprint. Steffen, who had impressed most while finishing a game second behind Fils De France on the second day of the season hit the front soon after the eight runners came under the starter's flag and soon established  a four-length advantage approaching the distance post and this was good enough for the Pradeep ward piloted in determined fashion by the promising apprentice Sachin to hang on and snuff out the challenge of the topweighted Dasadyu from the stables of Aravind Ganapathy. Dasadyu after this lung-opener will prove to be a different proposition next time out. The same cannot be mentioned in the case of Valencia from Gregory Sandhu's yard, who was smashed down in the ring initially before money came pouring in on Steffen and Agrima from Michael Eshwer's yard. While Steffen pulled of a good gamble, Valencia flopped badly much to the disappointment of the Sandhu supporters. 

The lower division of the event was claimed by Mericle Beauty from trainer Rajesh Babu's yard who was fancied sweetly by the insiders and the right connections, backed down from (7/2) to (2/1). Kiran Rai produced a copybook effort on the good looking winner. Top fancy Khazana from trainer Arjun Manglorkar's yard topped the betting board, but the even-money favourite found Mericle Beauty too hot to handle and had to rest content with the runner-up berth.