Once again, it was a mixed bag for punters as three favourites obliged in a card of seven events. Possibly, the worst sufferers among local railbirds were the followers of the Daniel David stable who went all out to recover their losses on the last two favourites – Brief Encounter and Fish Pilot. While the latter was knocked out of his stride by Secret Whispers at the 900m marker, the former may have found the six-furlong trip a little too sharp in this speedy company.

The man who stole the honours of the afternoon was undoubtedly apprentice Vikash Tamang. He completed a well-deserved brace with Cee Four and Royal Dance. In fact, Cee Four was his tenth winner, which permitted the apprentice to use a whip astride Royal Dance. This may have been an essential factor in the latter winning the final event of the afternoon as he was struggling to collar the tearaway Giocometti.

But first things first, let’s start with the main event of the afternoon – The Brown Wolf Handicap. Both King’s Desire (Major Impact-Walk On Turf) and Triunfo had met on the opening day in The La Gitana Handicap where the latter had finished four lengths ahead of his adversary. However, a point to be noted was that with the help of apprentice Mohit Singh’s 3-kg allowance, King’s Desire was actually 6 kg better off after that race. This was a point that many knowledgeable turfites chose to ignore as the eventual winner is an eight-year-old and six furlongs on the monsoon track was thought to be out of his ambit. But Jasbir Singh’s ward fooled all and sundry with a sustained start-to-finish effort. Rather surprisingly, the much younger Asiatic Star was struggling to keep pace with the front-runner though he did threaten to collar him at the distance post. Brief Encounter finished on well but may have needed the outing. As for Triunfo, his stable decided to give him the day off as the race was not important enough.

The afternoon commenced with Farley Rodrigues-trained Girl Of Flowers (Greensmith-Vedic Chants) making mincemeat of her five rivals over the seven-furlong trip for The Maid Of Athens Handicap. The trainer himself was quite amazed by the fashion of her triumph and is hoping for greater things from her. As an apprentice, I. Khan was quite a useful rider. However, currently he is being used as a ‘riding boy’ for the MAM stable. Thus, the fate of Promised Glory was never in doubt for those in the know at this centre. Aged Firing Power plodded on to be the runner-up.

Trainer Vijay Singh’s Elusive Thought was entrusted to apprentice Ajoy Roy in the race for the Own Ability Handicap. The favourite was third throughout the race while Christopher Gleich’s All That Jazz (Serious Spender-Rewind) was given a measured ride by the rejuvenated Vinay Jaiswal. After following Ebony Princess till the distance post, the filly collared the front-runner easily enough.

Patrick Quinn-trained Cee Four (Tirol-Surge With Class) was one of the three favourites to score. With Tamang claiming 4 kg, the eventual winner faced no problem at all in making The Moon Fairy Handicap his own. It was Tamang’s 10th win and he was therefore eligible to use the whip in his subsequent mounts.

Recent import from Mumbai, Devilitto, was the rage of the ring in the Contralto Handicap. However, he was always lethargic and though Torrential was coming back at him from the distance post, he could not capitalize on it. It was left to Rutherford-trained Vignet (Royal Gladiator-Almeto) to spring his usual monsoon surprise. Jockey M Ali Khan rode a forceful finish.

Calcutta’s star pair of Vijay Singh and Christopher Alford combined fruitfully to bag The Kiltoi Handicap with Secrecy (China Visit-Glorious Colours). Alford found a passage between front-running Shershah and Mesmerizer to win by a good four lengths in spite of his mount drifting out in the straight. Considering that the filly was shouldering 60.5 kg, it was quite an impressive victory and makes her a candidate for the Fillies Trial Stakes in early September.

Armed with his latest weapon – the whip – apprentice Tamang won The Jujube Handicap while astride Royal Dance (Royal Kingdom-Dance With Bertie). The Javed Khan ward behaved himself at the gates on this occasion and collared Giocometti before staving off a challenge from Secret Whispers. Shezad Khan on the latter was fined for knocking the favourite Fish Pilot out of his stride within a furlong of the start.