Holding the banner aloft for her sire China Visit, the Imtiaz Sait trained filly Sea Value (China Visit – Allosaki) ran a bit above the expectations of the market and probably her connections as well. Sea Value with C. Rajendra in the saddle was practically the last horse to enter the straight even as favourite Illuminate was trying to assert his authority at the front. Rajendra brought Sea Value on the outer lane and started working on her feverishly. The bay filly produced a scintillating run and flashed past Illuminate much to the dismay of the punters. Sea Warrior was hardly expected to do something sensational in the hands of Jerome Pereira; he ran third without much assistance in the saddle nonetheless. Blue Thunder was unable to gain a favourable place at the start and she languished along with the no-hopers till the end.

	Sea Value (C Rajendra up), winner of the Sweet Memories Trophy (Div-I), being led in by trainer Mr. Imtiaz A Sait (left) & Mr Prem Tharani

The French saddle artiste Stephane Ladjadj hogged the limelight with a hard-earned treble and narrowly missed a quartet of winners astride Titleist. Interestingly, all the three winners partnered by Stephane hailed from the yards of Narendra Lagad, who is expected to strike gold more often during the current season. Lagad, it may be recalled, maintained a low profile during his campaign at Mahalaxmi and so did his horses who have now reached a mark allowing their master to pull the trump card in handicap races as and when he wishes to do so.

Blush (Fasliyev – Eastern Sky), who never managed to catch the judge`s eye at Mumbai, appeared to have undergone total transformation in the curtain raiser when she jumped out smartly from the gates and seized the advantage from favourite Pound Foolish in not time. Stephane rode her passionately to keep Pound Foolish at bay. Ijlal raised some hope in the straight but found Blush far too superior.

Stephane and Lagad then brought off a silent coup with Tequila (Alnasr Alwasheek – Bay of Angels) and money simply came gushing her way in the betting ring while support for Wilna faded gradually. Stephane stepped up the pace on Tequila in the home stretch and the filly had the race sewn up long way from home. Wilna was seen labouring hard to end second ahead of the late finishing Ariane, who got the better of Bluebird. Roman Legion ran a bad last having suffered a stifle lock after showing out early in the race.

Had Titleist encountered a better specimen in Star of Killarney (Ontario – Lady of Killarney), the celebrations of Stephane and Lagad would have had a different hue. Regardless, Star of Killarney, fostered by Adil Dajee and ridden by Imran Chisty, showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals when delivering the goods for his connections. Titleist found consolation in the runner-up slot while Palazzo Grazioli came with a long stretched run to finish third while Ocean Clipper ended fourth.

The failure of Titleist didn`t come as a setback either for Stephane or Lagad. They had another ace in the form of Forward Charge (Warrshan – Aquatic Wonder), who too upstaged ante post favourite Admirals Quest in the betting market. Forward Charge won fairly easy warding of the threat of his main adversary Admirals Quest. Oriental Magic and Tintoretto followed them home.

B. Prakash, who claimed the champion rider`s title at Mahalaxmi and has been struggling recently to find winners, tasted some rare success with the Mansingh Jadhav nurtured filly Serenity (Diffident – Scenic Royale). The on-money favourite kicked on gamely once she grabbed the lead and won without being unduly troubled by the runner-up Sun Elegance. Fire Streak ran a fair third ahead of Sunlight.

A stupendous run unleashed by Pesi Shroff`s ward Sterlitzia (Razeen – Habitzia) foiled the runaway bid of Flaming Arrow at the wire. Flaming Arrow was eased into the lead uphill by Suraj Narredu and he seemed to be en route to victory before young S. Zervan asked Sterlitzia for an effort. The bay filly, who had ended third in the Bangalore Oaks, came with a blazing run down the centre of the track and Suraj could hardly believe that she had snatched the race from him. Demonstrator`s paddock looks belied his statistics of having reeled off four victories in a row just a few months back. After being in the hunt till the distance post, Demonstrator faded out to finish a bad last. White Knight ended in the money while Misschevious Trot completed the judge`s frame.

Calypso Dancer from Shiraz Sunderji`s yard appeared to have pipped leader Untouched on the post but the judge`s found the latter ahead by a hair`s breadth. The photo finish print displayed on the closed circuit TV remained ambiguous but the judge revealed that he succeeded in separating Untouched from Calypso Dancer after enlarging the photo finish clip on the computer.

Sunderji however led in Highland Bounty (Royal Kingdom – Vivienne), another piping hot favourite from his string, towards the close. Apprentice Trevor Patel had very little to do astride the gelding save for falling from the saddle of course. Patel drove Highland Bounty to build the advantage and scored comfortably from Daffodils and Hammerhead while the others finished far off.