Putting her failure at the hands of Rejuvenite at Pune behind her back, the Manjri Stud bred equine superstar Oasis Star (Senure - Gumbaru Etsu) made a smashing comeback on the Mahalaxmi tracks when she hacked her opponents in the Arjav Diamonds Salver on Sunday. The five-year-old Oasis Star, co-owned by Messrs Shapoor P. Mistry, Cyrus P. Mistry and Tariq Vaidya, shrugged off her somewhat unkempt paddock looks and does what she does best on the racing track: Just cantered away past her rivals when even before Y. S. Srinath switched gears.

Earlier Portrush showed the way to the field with Beyond Belief, Running Bull and Cotswold Arms sitting close on his tail. Oasis Star, who is nurtured by veteran in-form trainer C. D. Katrak, gained places from the tail-end and was in contention before the horses could turn for home.

	Oasis Star (Y S Srinath up), winner of the Arjav Diamonds Salver

Oasis Star`s run was akin to a hot knife running through a chunk of butter and Srinath barely had to move a muscle as the mare wrapped up her comeback race. Cotswold Arms ran true to form to finish second ahead of Agha and Pepe Junior.

Katrak`s march towards the season`s leading trainer title was right on track when debutant Sea Sparrow (Mr Mellon - Strike It Right) unravelled a speedy display and outpaced his rivals over a five-furlong scurry. The drifting odds of Sea Sparrow were a cause for concern for his supporters but the price shift was more because of the steady stream of money that flowed in the direction of Natouchka than anything else. Danny Grant astride Sea Sparrow built a commanding lead after jumping out smartly from the gates and had the race well under control once the field moved into the straight. For the second time running Astral played the bridesmaid role while Natouchka failed to display the expected potential. Blue Danube ran a fair fourth and should improve hereon.

Danny had started the day on a winning note through Hosidar Daji trained Fantastic Fury (Young Senor - Cornelia) who improved on her previous run and earned her corn bill against Blue Vision, Taanush and Miles And More.

Niall McCullagh had a forgettable day in the saddle as his three fancied mounts astride Pesi Shroff`s wards, Running Bull, Chieftain and Illusionist, all ran below par. Chieftain and Illusionist, in fact, proved to be expensive failures. Chieftain toiled in the rear bunch where Gold Quest and Ares were locked in a serious dispute virtually from the word go while Doi Moi race comfortably behind in the third slot. Ares veered out under pressure just when he appeared to be gaining an upper hand over Gold Quest and before Saleem Golam could set him on a straight course Doi Moi raised a flourishing gallop. The Nosher Cama trained and Neeraj Rawal ridden Doi Moi (Royal Kingdom - Count The Stars) caught both his rival unawares at the winning post. Ares retained the runner-up slot by having his nose ahead of Gold Quest. Chandelier completed the frame while Chieftain failed to even grace the board. Ares and Gold Quest have the ability to earn a bracket in the near future.

Illusionist was simply no match for M. K. Jadhav trained Force of Law when C. D. Hayes alerted him in the home stretch. Force of Law drew away from his rivals and left the moneybags licking their wounds. Rattle ended third ahead of Belligerent, who may have needed this run.

The Brazilian born rider S. A. De Souza flexed his muscles well enough to fetch him a good treble. He took Vinay Lagad saddled long-in-tooth candidate Amadomio on a successful start-to-finish mission at the start of the day and won warding off the threat of favourite Free Spirit.

De Souza tasted his next success atop Narendra Lagad trainee Palme Dor (Burden of Proof - Cheers Zone) who too showed a clean pair of heels to her rivals. The speedy Palme Dor won comfortably from Liberty Speaks and Warcraft. The latter had an educative run and his progress needs to watch carefully. There was nothing to write home about Paper King`s pathetic performance.

De Souza displayed his muscle power aboard Bella (Diffident - Spectacular Blood) and guided the Imtiaz Sait schooled filly to an emphatic victory over Giannatassio and Romantic Impact. Swept Away led the all the way home but retired towards the end to finish fourth. Rose Bowl never raised any hopes for his admirers and ran off the board. However, don`t write him off. Rose Bowl has in him what it takes to recover your losses.

Punters had burnt their fingers earlier in the day with debutant Graces but the Imtiaz trained filly truly came across one better in Fire Within, who had the experience on his side. The Narendra Lagad saddled Fire Within (Warrshan - Anodyne) gave a string of disappointing performances at Pune but proved his mettle on this occasion. Victory Star ran an encouraging second ahead of Graces and Culcrieff.

The withdrawal of favourite Bee Quick at the gates took away some of the charm from the Blue Star Diamonds Trophy. The race was won by Schnell (Alnasr Alwasheek - Astor Place), who was given an admirable ride by David Allan to down the colours of early leader Star Adventure and then Monopoly. Amberogio finished on to second while Bu Attifel exceeded all expectations to end a short-head in front of Monopoly. Star Adventure faded out from the scene after calling a merry tune to her rivals. Schell`s success was a moral victory for his trainer Hormuz Antia, who was clearly unimpressed by the manner in which he was let down by jockey L. Prashant, a young rider who was entrusted with Schnell in Pune. Antia`s confidence in Schnell`s ability to reap success can be gauged from the fact that he flew down David Allan from Bangalore for one solitary ride in the day at Mahalaxmi. Kudos to him for nursing Schnell back to winning form.