Racing this weekend was not particularly difficult from a punter’s perspective, with the winners relatively easy to spot. The small fields and the lack of in-form horses to contend with worked in favour of the punters. The day started off with the piping hot favourite Beast Mode living up to its name, though he faced little resistance in the four-horse field competing for the Acclaimed Plate. NS Parmar settled Beast Mode behind his stablemate Fortunate Son while Manwar and the lethargic Kimiko trailed behind. Beast Mode (Plumatic – Woman O War) took charge near the Turf Club House corner and the NS Parmar-ridden Mansingh Jadhav trainee won untroubled thereafter. Manwar was no match for the winner when finishing runner-up, while Fortunate Son ran third ahead of Kimiko.
 
Later in the day, the four-year-old filly Kavya provided Jadhav his second winner when pulverised her opponents in the Pune City Gold Cup. Parmar astride Kavya sat well up behind Ultimo until the field of six approached the final turn. Kavya (Win Legend – Maun Vrat) was still travelling on the bit when she overtook Ultimo at this juncture and drew away under the whip to score a convincing victory. Dream Alliance gave a resolute performance to beat owner-mate Sovereign King for the second place, while Shambala ended a close fourth.
 
Young Aman Hussain delighted the punters by saddling three well fancied winners, the first of which was Fourth Wing in the Mysore Race Club Trophy contested by just three runners after the withdrawal of Irish Gold. Turn And Burn ran unrestrained in the front over the six-furlong journey and was followed by Fourth Wing and Market King. Fourth Wing (Sanus Per Aquam – Centrestage), with Trevor Patel in the saddle, cruised past Turn And Burn at the two-furlong marker and went on to find his mark in the highest class. Market King, despite being long in tooth, continued to earn valuable stakes for his connections when taking the second spot ahead of Turn And Burn.
 
Last-outing winner Spotlight defied the handicapper to register an encore in the Good Life Company Trophy. Hussain’s strategy to run Spotlight in her own age group and entrusting the mare to claim the allowance of in-form apprentice Ramswarup proved spot on. Spotlight (Admiralty – Light Dubai) exploited her initial speed to hit the front and won from end to end, staving off the threat posed by runner-up Moonlight Kiss close home. Cinderella’s Dream improved late to beat Ashwa Brazil for the third place.
 
Three-year-old Yinsiruk, who had played second fiddle in both his previous starts, graduated from the maiden ranks in the next race by claiming the rich stakes offered in the Panchshil Million. Absolute Emperor made the initial running while Yinsiruk stayed in close contention with Brahmastra and Rinella following them. The heavily-backed debutant Miami Vice lacked initial speed and was under pressure to make headway. Trevor got busy on Yinsiruk (Sanus Per Aquam – Songlark) on entering the home stretch and challenged Absolute Emperor, who fought hard before being overwhelmed inside the last hundred metres. Miami Vice warmed up along the way in the straight to finish third ahead of Lumineer.
 
Jockey Neeraj Rawal also had a brace of winners, Bee Magical and Golden Eye, both available at fancy odds. Imtiaz Sait-schooled Bee Magical received scant support in the Columbiana Plate, which wore an open look yet saw sustained wagering in Your Unforgettable’s favour. Earth spurted soon after the eight horses had sorted themselves at the start and called the shots ahead of Scaramouche and Bishop in a closely bunched field. A. Sandesh did everything possible to get Earth to stay ahead while Scaramouche and Bishop failed to collar her till the final lap of the seven-furlong trip. Meanwhile, Neeraj-piloted Bee Magical (Moonlight Magic – Bee Quick), the fastest moving horse at that stage, slipped into the lead after taking the rails run and scored an upset win. Earth held on to be second while Matisse edged out Bishop for the third spot. Your Unforgettable ran disappointingly without raising any hopes for her supporters.
 
Dallas Todywalla-saddled Golden Eye (Plumatic – Goldie’s Pet), an expensive failure during her last appearance, took a fluent jump from the barriers and showed a clean pair of heels to her seven rivals in the Animal Welfare Board of India Trophy, run over a mile and a quarter. Even-money favourite Legadema was in contention till shortly after entering the home stretch but faded out to be fourth while Monterey improved towards the end to take the runner-up berth ahead of Hermanus.
 
Baleno from Karthik Ganapathy’s string seemed to have benefitted from the removal of blinkers and the mare came with a resolute run in the last furlong to beat Madison and Remy Red in a three-way finish. Earlier, Remy Red tried to go pillar-to-post and almost made it before Bhawani Singh brought Baleno (Roderic O’ Connor – Southern Bay) with a spirited run to leave the maiden ranks in her last stride from fast-finishing Madison. Remy Red had to settle for the third place while Magical Moments, who failed to quicken in the straight, ran fourth.