Pesi Shroff trained Tiger Tops showed no ill-effects of having run the grueling Derby run at Kolkata last week and trounced the opposition in the Gr 1 Villoo Poonawalla Indian Oaks, the third classic of the season on Sunday. Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has been sponsoring this race in memory of his late wife Villoo Poonawalla. There was another graded race sponsored by the Poonawalla family for three-year olds thereby highlighting their generous sponsorship for the sport in many ways.

The only question mark about Tiger Tops chances was the fear that run last week and the ravel would have affected the horse`s ability to recover for another tough race. This fear resulted in the odds more than doubling from the ante post quote. However, in the hands of Irish jockey Colm O`Donoghue, Tiger Tops showed that she is capable of much more when leading from the front midway through the race and skipping clear of the rest to win as she pleased. The performance of Tiger Tops was truly encouraging. There were fears that the Indian Derby may become hopelessly one sided. But Tiger Top along with the possible presence of Quasar should spice up things.

The field that lined up for the Oaks was pretty mediocre though Godspeed, winner of the Indian 1000 Guineas was there in the fray. Godspeed has had an operation for the wind problem and had shown her distinct preference for shorter trips. Over the mile and half trip, she was under pressure well before the final furlong and was beaten by non achievers. Laurita who had won the Golconda Oaks was the other classic contender in the fray who also flopped.

Helping Hand found herself in front as the field set out for the mile and half trip with Tiger Tops in a handy second position ahead of Bethpage, Aquamarine, Helping Hand, Laurita, Tatiana while Westphalia, Godspeed, Pure Allure and Classic Moment raced in the rear. Tiger Tops came into the straight a few lengths clear of the rest with Aquamarine trying hard to catch up. Tatiana showed lot of zest when coming from way back to essay her challenge. However, there was none to stop Tiger Tops as the got-abroad filly strode majestically in front and checked in well clear Tatiana who ran above expectations. Aquamarine was third ahead of Classic Moment who came from long way back to finish fourth while Godspeed struggled on the wide outside and finished poorly. By running his horse back to back in a week, Shroff has disproved several myths that a horse needs a longish gap to be performing at the top level. How you re-hydrate the horse is the key to the answer.

Pesi dominated the card saddling three winners which included highly talented debutant Admiralty. The progeny of first season sire Admiralofthefleet who unfortunately died after just two crops at Kunigal Stud Farm. Admiralty is touted as being a possible winner of the Poonawalla Multi-Million. The hype ensured that Admiralty was backed down from a higher ante post quote to even money favouritism by race time. The well built Admiralty was hampered by the wide outside draw but jockey Trevor Patel was so confident that he let the horse go into the bunch and wait for his spaces which materialized. There was a huge gap along the rails as the entire field came off the rails which allowed Admiralty to get a smooth passage along the rails. Admiralty took the ground saving route and by the final furlong, had distanced himself from the rest that he could be eased well before the winning post to win by a widening margin of seven lengths over Harvey. Surely Admiralty is something special and it would be interesting to watch his progress in the bigger plums of the season.

Despite conceding weight to her adversaries, Dallas Todywalla trained Victoria Harbour was backed to on money favouritism in the 1200 metres Gr 3 Gool S Poonawalla Million, a terms race for three year olds. The Manjri Stud Farm bred Victoria Harbour led from the start and though she drifted out to the middle of the track Donoghue had the filly firmly under control as she finished well clear of Columbiana and Captain Courage. The filly appeared to be in distress while being led to the unsaddling enclosure as the jockey got off the horse and the filly rushed towards the veterinary hospital.

Ephilaties and Speed King were the horses which received solid support to win the 1400 metres Mid Day Trophy. Ephilaties led in earnest but closer home was measured by Speed King who got stronger in the closing stages of the race. Glorious Reward covered lot of ground while coming up with a late rally and succeeding in edging past Ephilaties for the runner up berth.

There was a race named after Uttam Singh over 2000 metres for horses rated 20 to 46. Uttam Singh was famous for getting best results out of fillies and in the fitness of things; a race has been framed to honor the veteran. Favourite Saporelli, trained by his son Zadmal Singh shaped to win as she came up with a strong challenge in the final furlong. However, long shot Papillon who was at the wrong end of the field till entering the straight came home with a big rush and managed to overhaul the favourite close home. Dance Debonaire necked out casino Jack for the third place.

On a day dominated by favourites, the well bred Zazou from the stables of trainer Noshir Cama swamped the opposition in the 1800 metres Harrish Mehra Trophy (Div I), a race for horses in the lowest category. Zazou took command inside the final two furlongs and stretched away for an effortless win proving in the process that she was at least a class above the horses she was competing with. Ad Astra was far away second. Sandesh drove out favourite Azadegan to stave off a strong challenge from Secret Mission to win the lower division of the race in a tight finish.

Pesi had earlier in the day led in a winner through the daughter of multi-classic winner Set Alight who had finished second best on two occasions. Satellite was the betting rage in the 1400 metres Tricumdas Dwarkadas trophy, a race for horses rated 20 to 46. Satellite led all the way and skipped away from his nearest pursuer Draco to win as she pleased. Now that Satellite has broken her maiden status, more wins are due for this four year old filly.

Srinath drove out Zander to an easy start to finish win in the 1200 metres P D Avasia Trophy, a race for horses rated 60 to 86. Wild Waves showed some resolution when covering good ground in the straight to be a suggestive second ahead of Full Moon who held off the late rally of Ultrasonic for the third spot. The last named was little sluggish at the start and lost all her chances there itself.