Bezan Chenoy trained St Andrews pulled off a thrilling win over Gazino in the 1200 metres Fair Haven Trophy, a race for horses rated 80 and above, the feature event of Saturday`s races held at Pune. St Andrews who won a race after a gap of 700 days owed his victory to an opportunistic ride by Imran Khan who managed to get the fancied runner make a decisive surge along the rails close home.

Narendra Lagad trained Excellent God who is coming short on each of the occasions that he has raced and hadn`t seen the winning post for 660 days was backed spiritedly to make amends with St Andrews being next in demand. Eyes For You who had been campaigned over longer trips came in for spirited betting to cause an upset in this sprint race but the filly dropped the jockey en route to the starting gates and bolted and was withdrawn from the fray. Clymene led the field deep into the straight with Gazino inching his way ahead in the final 100 metres while St Andrews was rallying along the rails. Excellent Gold showed up on the wide outside. St Andrews got the needed gap to shoot through to win by a neck over Gazino while Excellence Gold once again disappointed finishing third.

Pesi Shroff trained Rhapsody showed good improvement over her Bangalore effort where she had finished about 11 lengths behind Northern Alliance by easily accounting for the opposition in the 1600 metres September Handicap, a race for horses rated 20 to 46 but confined to three-year-olds. Hokkaido who had summered at Bangalore was the favourite backed strongly to oblige with Galloping Goldmine going to the post as the second favourite while Rhapsody was quoted at liberal odds. Zervan had Rhapsody tracking Grey Falcon till approaching the final turn before pushing his horse to take charge. Galloping Goldmine went in the chase, but Rhapsody spurted clear in the final furlong without having to be fully exerted. Hokkaido came up with a late bid but could only edge out Galloping Goldmine for the runner-up berth.

Pei Shroff`s horses were in a mood to perform to their potential as the trainer led in the third winner of the day through Cliffs of Capri who had no problem in disposing of stablemate Notoriety to win the In The Spotlight Trophy (Div I), a race for maiden three-year-olds. Narendra Lagad trained C`est L`Amour who had been consistently hitting the board but racing at quick intervals was made the favourite ahead of the superiorly bred Cliffs of Capri. The latter chased C`est Lamour into the straight before leaving his opponent cold to win by a margin of six lengths. The favourite weakened completely and was overhauled by Notoriety who covered good ground in the straight to serve notice of an early success by finishing second. Another Pesi Shroff trained Armaity who was making her debut in the lower division of In The Spotlight Trophy smashed the opposition pointless. Starringo came in for spirited betting to end up as a firm favourite ahead of God`s Decree. Armaity was available at lucrative odds as the punters could not ascertain the preparedness of the well-bred filly since the trainer reserves his best for Mumbai and his wards are rarely seen in full flight at Pune. Sandesh took God`s Decree on a start to finish mission with Armaity quickly improving to be in a handy second position. In the stretch, Armaity easily overhauled the front-runner to win by a widening margin of eight lengths from Baku and Valiant Sar. God`s Decree weakened to finish third and reportedly returned sore after the race. Starringo lost whatever chances she had losing considerable ground at the jump out.

The day`s well-backed winner came in the fifth race of the day, 1200 metres Machupicchu Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 46 where Narendra Lagad trained Ustad Pedro obliged in the hands of jockey Sandesh with a powerful effort in the final 250 metres. After Malavika showed up briefly at the top of the straight, Ustad Pedro came into strong contention and got the lead by the final furlong. Last start winner Ebony went in the chase, but the front-runner had enough legs to win with a measure of comfort. Aquarius edged out Adam`s Beginning to save place money. Collegium who was in the betting lost all his chances at the gate itself by getting stranded in the gate.

The 1600 metres Richelieu Plate, a race for horses in the lowest category, looked like a minefield though in the perception of the punters it appeared to be a one-horse race for Vinesh trained Suarez who was backed very strongly in the betting ring. Suarez raced a handy second into the straight before Sandesh got busy on the favourite who stormed ahead and shaped to win. Towards the closing stages of the race, a cluster of horses finished with a rush with Fencing snatching the race from late rallying Dazzling Eyes who nosed out Suarez for the runner-up berth. Second favourite Gold Magic faded out without a trace after staying in touch with the field till the final turn.

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Armaity (N S Parmar up) winner of the In The Spotlight Trophy (Div-II)

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St Andrews (A Imran Khan up) winner of the Fair Haven Trophy

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Rhapsody (S Zervan up) winner of the September Handicap

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Cliffs Of Capri (S Zervan up) winner of the In The Spotlight Trophy (Div-I)

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Ustad Pedro (A Sandesh up) winner of the Macchupicchu Plate

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Fencing (Santosh G up) winner of the Richelieu Plate

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