The second day of the monsoon season had a big card of nine events and mostly large fields, and despite a couple of passing showers racing was not interrupted. The fancied runners found their mark quite easily and there was no winner who scored out of turn, which meant that punters went home happy. Trevor Patel, who had drawn a blank after a few near misses last week, got into the groove with a popular hat-trick. A. Sandesh also started from where he had left off on the opening day and registered a back-to-back double at the start.
 
On paper, the first division of the Dr Anil Kumar Salver appeared to be a two-horse race between Aman Hussain-groomed Storm Majesty and Malesh Narredu-saddled Pinnacle. The finish was on expected lines and Trevor steered Pinnacle to a narrow victory, staving off the spirited challenge of Sandesh-driven Storm Majesty. Pinnacle stayed on the haunches of leader Neptune all the way from the start before Trevor pulled out his whip as the field entered the straight. Neptune surrendered after a brief struggle allowing Pinnacle to take charge. Meanwhile, Storm Majesty started to inch closer with every stride but despite Sandesh’s strong challenge, Pinnacle (Land Force – Relaxez Vous) prevailed by half a length. Neptune barely retained the third spot from Majesticus, who finished on well in the final furlong.
 
Trevor earlier partnered Blue Jet to her second career success in the Classic Talk Plate, which proved to be kind of a gift race for the filly hailing from Deepesh Narredu’s yard. A money-back favourite, Blue Jet (Leitir Mor – Memory Bay) chased stablemate Elevate after the five-furlong scurry was flagged off. As the field turned for home, Blue Jet collared Elevate and went on score quite easily. Elevate, Rock Armour and Amelia Earhart took the minor places.
 
Imtiaz Sait-schooled Tyrannus went wire-to-wire over the seven-furlong journey for the World’s Oldest Barbershop (Div-I) to give Trevor his hat-trick winner. The seven rivals in the fray made no impression on Tyrannus (Leitir Mor – Equine Lover) at any stage of the race. Spanish Eyes, Axlrod, and Ashwa Brazil followed the winner home. Rosario finished off the board, much to the disappointment of his followers, but definitely has scope for improvement after this run.
 
Earlier in the day, Sait led in three-year old Minari, the prime favourite who won the Dr Anil Kumar Salver (Div-II) with a fair measure of comfort over her nearest rival Organised Chaos. The latter went on a start-to-finish mission and seemed to be making it before Akshay Kumar set alight Minari in the straight. The bay filly by Roderic O’Connor out of Free Gold produced a sparkling run to overwhelm Organised Chaos inside the final hundred metres of the six-furlong sprint. Charisse ended a fair third ahead of Mila.
 
Sandesh’s never-say-die attitude was instrumental in Ekla Cholo snatching a narrow victory over Dancing Cloud in the day’s curtain raiser. Earlier, well-fancied Sky Full of Stars hit the front only to give way to Dancing Cloud at the final turn. K. Nazil rode Dancing Cloud vigorously as Sandesh brought Faisal Abbas-trained Ekla Cholo into contention following which both horses fought a stirring duel. It was Ekla Cholo (Surfrider – Narya) who triumphed by a head over Dancing Cloud. Samson came with a powerful run in the dying moments of the race to finish a length behind the runner-up but an identical distance ahead of We Still Believe.
 
Adhirajsingh Jodha-nursed Encino gave an armchair ride to Sandesh in the Atomic Prince Plate, a six-furlong event for horses in Class II. Cellini was brushed into the lead shortly after the start with Sandesh biding his time astride Encino till a little over a furlong left to conquer. When alerted to his task, Encino (Gusto – Choice House) swooped down on the leader and went on to win effortlessly. Top-weighted Fighton finished faraway to be second ahead of Bee Magical and Bishop. After loitering behind the front-runners, Bishop warmed to his task to finish on the judges’ board.
 
Queen of Beauties was hotly fancied to claim the Dr Anil Kumar Salver (Div-I) but Aman Hussain’s juvenile ward found the going tough against her mature opponents. Shazaan Shah-nurtured Dedication was skilfully partnered by Neeraj Rawal to a well-deserved win over Wings of Fury, who came perilously close to toppling the winner. Queen of Beauties went straight down to business when the gates flew open and called the early shots with lesser-fancied Heaven’s Rhythm and Diego Garcia racing close behind. Dedication, who was racing in the mid-bunch till the bend, improved steadily to come into the reckoning and join the issue with the favourite. It did not take long for Dedication to gain the upper hand over Queen of Beauties, who fought hard to stay in contention but in vain. Neeraj drove Dedication (Deauville – Devotee) relentlessly and managed to kick on gamely by half a length over Wings of Fury with Queen of Beauties taking the third berth, a neck ahead of Diego Garcia.
 
Dallas Todywalla-trained Caradoc finally graduated from the maiden ranks by evading Ekatarina’s late assault in the Unicorn Plate, a mile event. Caspian was brushed up to take the lead but blew up at the final turn where Floyd overtook him. Caradoc, who was ridden well off the pace by Akshay, accelerated well in the straight to tackle Floyd in the final stages of the race and lasted out to win from Ekatarina. Floyd took the third spot while Antino ran a tame fourth.
 
Bohemian Rhapsody, though neglected in the betting ring, struck immediately on relegation and registered an emphatic win in the concluding event. Joint favourite Tropical Paradise tackled no-hopers Okinayume and Trail Blazer in the home stretch but failed to ward off Hosidar Daji-saddled Bohemian Rhapsody, who wore down the favourite close home. Yuletide came from nowhere to finish in the money ahead of Jagger. Sandesh-ridden Bravo Zulu raised no hopes for his followers and eventually ended up in the dump.