It proved to be as easy as sweeping autumn leaves from the garden path for Zuccaro, the best horse on the Indian racing circuit to gallop into the Hall Of Fame. And the Pesi Shroff ward emerged the Champion Of Champions without breaking sweat in the Zavaray Poonawalla Indian Turf Invitation Cup. 

Unbeaten from his last six starts including his wins in the Bangalore Maharaja's Cup and the President Of India Gold Cup in Hyderabad, Zuccaro was considered a cinch in the mega event and the champion in nonchalant fashion pulled the plug and fused out his six rivals without breaking a sweat. It was one of the best performances recorded in the champion event and all credit to champion trainer Pesi Shroff and the young Vivek, who have played a stellar role in the distinguished career of a top performer, who is at his best and barring a setback, come March will again come up tops in the biggest event in the Indian racing calendar. 

Redefined bravely overcame the pain during the race following the injury he sustained while gaining the runner-up berth and his trainer Prasanna Kumar at the Kunigal Stud farm Auction sales, next day confirmed that Redefined will be retired. The sad coincidence is that the South India Derby winner Knotty Legend at Chennai, suffered an injury last year and retired and this year it happened with another top Prasanna trainee Redefined.

The Maj.PK Mehra Memorial Super Mile produced a shock result, Echoes Of Time from young Aravind Ganapathy's yard producing a sparkling gallop in the hands of Ashhad Asbar to snuff out the challenge of another rank outsider Pride's Prince, while the two market leaders Prokofiev from Prasanna Kumar's yard and the Satish Narredu-trained Shamrock, a brilliant last start winner failed to successfully negotiate the testing underfoot conditions. The fact that Echoes Of Time finished down the field after almost going down at the start in the Sprinters' Cup and next day undeterred produced an outstanding effort over a mile only confirms that this Aravind Ganapathy ward is a top class performer, who sadly has suffered from many setbacks at important stages in his chequered career. 

"He came into my stable after dad bought him in miserable condition. He was not eating and his condition was only deteriorating. I needed to provide him best care and rest. And he slowly recovered and is starting to prove his mettle," said Aravind delighted with the big success, adding that the best is yet to come from Echoes Of Time. 

Proud owner Arun Kumar has made winning a habit and his horses make sure that he consistently stands tall at the winning enclosure. After Reiko put him into the Hall Of Fame, winning the Sprinters' Cup in a pulse-pounding finish from the Mumbai raider Encino on Saturday, long shot Frederika piloted by Akshay Kumar, who recorded a hat-trick on the eve of the Invitation Cup, came up trumps pegging back Money Bags in the Suresh Mahindra Multi-Million run over a distance of seven furlongs. This was Frederika's fourth straight success and Arun and John need a pat on the back for sending out Frederika spot on and more importantly in winning shape for the premier event. "Frederika is on top of his game and I rate him high and I was confident that he will test the best in this event. Money Bags to me appeared the only danger and I knew that after his effort in the Sprinters, Money Bags would have lost some of the zip. Well as it panned out Frederika performed at the optimum level and he maintained his winning streak. 

Arun next signed off in style, leading in the even-money favourite Ice Of Fire, who proved too good in the concluding event and helped the punters recover some percentage of the losses they suffered on the two days. "She was head and shoulders above her eight rivals and she proved that right cruising home without a fuss," said Arun Kumar after leading in his third winner of the week.