Every racecourse in the world is known to have a fair share of punters who always smell a rat when results of any race fail to match there own workings. But, Prince Obolensky’s start-to-finish victory, last Saturday, may not have shocked those who go strictly by the formbook. Although third, the six-year-old had performed in an identical manner to finish comfortably ahead of Arendal last winter and at a similar weight advantage. That performance must have prompted trainer John Stephens to give a re-try to the strategy without being bothered by the publicized improvement of Arendal who went to the start as a 3-10 hot-favourite in the Portofino Cup. The strategy not only clicked, it paid rich dividends, too, on a deserving winner. Fateh Ali Khan, who is fast maturing as a good apprentice, remained committed to the task without making any mistake over an 1,800-metre trip. So much so, the young apprentice had time to throw a cheeky glance past the distance-post and the 2-kg overweight declared by him was the only flaw which earned him a reprimand from the stipendiary stewards.

Racing was a good fun on the day barring the shocking victory of Bold Apparel in the sporting event, the Whiplash Cup. Agreed, the Daniel David-trainee, on his Mumbai-form, had better credentials than the rest in the field of seven but, one expects schoolers to follow the system, and not take punters to be a bunch of idiots. Only 10 days earlier the Sizzling Melody-Mission four-year-old had finished last in a field of six runners thus his transformation as a winner landed the trainer in a fix as the stewards’ ordered an inquiry into the improved performance of the colt. Bold Apparel was the least fancied runner from among the four of Daniel’s runner in the field.

The two strongly fancied runners in the race, Daniel’s Secret Adversary and Harvinder Singh Bath-ward Software, could not have done better as the race was run. Each of the two tried to outsmart the other right after the start thus they turned out to be mere passengers much before the race gathered momentum. The stage was, therefor, set for those lurked who in the mid-bunch or in the rear till the final turn to take over with Bold Apparel showing a good turn of foot.

Iron Warrior was the other shocker. But the Farley Rodrigues-trained topweight was running after more than three weeks and thats what is the meaning of the following of the system. Nevertheless, it was another good jockey in the making Apprentice Rao Dalpat Singh who won many a hearts when he piped jockey Cristopher Alford on Stellas Blue at the post after a near 200-metre tussle.

The afternoon had, otherwise, many goodies for the punters. Staring off with the half-money favourite Rescue Act’s victory, to a cleverly plotted gamble on Crest Star, or a runaway triumph of Tajik and to a hard-earned but sweet win of Aflicker, all had an element of excitement attached and cash to carry home. Rescue Act’s victory in the opener, the 1,400-metre Maltese Prince Handicap was a bold effort by the stable. The Bharath Singh-trainee has remained a maiden till date after performing creditably, though without a winning luck, against the best of the centre. The fact that a seven-furlong preparatory race towards a classic is considered taxing for youngster. Therefore, it hardly came as a surprise when the Procida-Irresistible tended to shorten his strides thus allowing a debutante Calculate to finish only a length behind him. Nevertheless, the three-year-old is bound to improve following this experience.

The expanding odds of another three-year-old Alumnus clearly indicated that the Daniel David-trainee was yet not ready for a win. Therefore, money came from all directions towards Crest Star who first shrugged off the Alumnus’ challenge and then pounced on to the leader Tsaynen Blue to record a seven-length-plus thumping victory in the 1,200-metre Diesel Handicap.

The 9-10 favourite Tajik was equally facile in his start-to-finish victory in the Not Much Handicap. His task was, however, made easier by the second favourite Raaz who took a poor jump out.