Having failed to deliver the goods when the terms of the Eve Champion Trophy were all loaded in his favour last month, it was certainly asking too much from Native Knight in the Fair Haven Trophy where he was conceding chunks of weight to his rivals. But the general feeling was that he can demolish the likes of Cabriolet, Clarion Call and White Knight. But that theory didn’t work. Dallas Todywalla trained Clarion Call (Alnasr Alwasheek – Star Fortune), who ran second behind Antonios in the St Leger at Pune and Icebreaker in the C. N. Wadia Gold Cup at Mahalaxmi before playing truant in his subsequent outings, made a start-to-finish dash for the wire and left his rivals gasping for breath.

Apprentice Trevor Patel showed remarkable maturity in handling Clarion Call by giving the winner a breather when the field when up hill before the final turn and then put the bay gelding into top gear. Clarion Call’s acceleration was such that his rivals simply failed to match strides with him in the straight as he pulled away from them to record a facile win. Native Knight ended a humiliating fourth behind Cabriolet and White Knight.

Vinayak trained Granados (Ikhtiyar – Glensanda) made good the promise shown in his preparatory gallops and made a winning debut in the hands of N. S. Parmar in the curtain raiser. Granados allowed Fish Pilot to do the running till the bend and then assumed command. The extra load of lead in his saddle proved to be a big barrier for last outing winner Tell Me More who tried hard to catch Granados but in vain.

The chestnut filly Lunar Quest (Major Impact – Lunar Music) from C. D. Katrak’s yard made amends for her previous failure for sure but not many expect her to go wire-to-wire over the mile journey. But the Dashrath Singh ridden filly did precisely that and proved far too superior for her main rivals Dante Rossetti and Frost Fairy. Dante Rossetti expectedly was hampered by his weight while Frost Fairy was unable to overhaul the winner despite the desperate attempts of her rider Imran Khan. Daughterofdestiny ended a long way third while Dante Rossetti just managing to finish on the judge’s board.

For the first time in many weeks, jockey B. Prakash found himself dismounting a horse in the winner’s enclosure when he partnered the Narendra Lagad saddled National Glory (Glory of Dancer – Painted Faces) to victory. Prakash kept National Glory on the haunches of leader Marigold before pouncing on her when entering the home stretch. Favourite Native Lady couldn’t find the momentum and ran second without raising any serious hopes for her supporters. Sterling Silver came with a long-stretched run in the closing stages of the race to end up in the money, a shade ahead of Wild Imagination and Marigold.

Trevor was also successful in booting two other winners through Wells Fargo (Batzushka – Allelujah) and Red Passion (Royal Gladiator – Shadow Dancing). The Don Surti trained Wells Fargo made Trevor toil hard before snatching the verdict from Hickory, who had led all the way till beaten by the winner. Benedictus ended a close third and was followed home by Sabanero who, despite having no form to boast, attracted tons of money in the betting ring which eventually landed into the coffers of the delighted bookies.

Hormuz Antia on the other hand was successful in bringing off a coup with Red Passion, who brushed aside both Nou Camp and the ante post favourite Golden Heart as they tried to pace with him right from the word go. Prince of Troy later gained good ground to finish second ahead of the tiring Golden Heart and Nou Camp.

A. Sandesh was the other rookie rider who made the race-goers sit up and take notice of his talent. He warded off the spirited bid of top-weighted Divine Majesty when steering the long-in-tooth The Rebel (Mischevious Music – Strike It Right) to a pillar-to-post win for his master Rehanullah Khan. The rest of the runners were simply outpaced but Arabian Power and Ashwa Prahar ran thereabouts to finish in the frame.

Sandesh soon had a back-to-back double when Sanjay Kolse decided to claim his allowance for Harmonica (Gaswar – Titanium) and virtually nullified the penalty incurred by his filly for her previous success. Sandesh had Harmonica take a smart jump from the barriers and called a merry tune right till the end of the six-furlong journey. Favourite Pillatus came with a strong run towards the end but failed to catch the winner. Tequila and Rose Bowl chased Harmonica in the initial stages but ended up on the tail of Pillatus.

The young lad just lost in a close finish atop Hickory and later astride Amberogio who succumbed to the onslaught of the Saqib Shaikh trained Cloud Cover (Royal Gladiator – Cloud Nine) close home. The Hyderabad based youngster Ashhad Asbar was flown down on a special mission by Cloud Cover’s owner and he justified that faith by powering the horse to victory in his last few strides. Belligerent failed to raise a fluent gallop in the home stretch and ended a tame third while Prince Lochinva finished fourth. Suavemente never seemed to be in the hunt at any stage of the race.