Man About Town lifted the Relevance Cup at RCTC on Thursday with sublime ease to suggest that one more race may be in store for him before the season is up. So well tuned is the five-year-old sprinter that apprentice Srinivas Rao knew exactly what to do from the word go. It was almost like following a set pattern.

Tucked in along the rails till heads turned for home, the Sarfaraz Khan ward shot ahead between the on-money favourite Focus and the front-running The Red Rose to land the spoils quite easily. An elated apprentice Rao stood up on the saddle as he passed the winning post. The hot afternoon commenced with the on-money favourite Light My Fire winning a thriller. The Bath-trained six-year-old chestnut mare had to stave off a strong challenge from 13-year-old ‘evergreen’ El Cid who put up a great challenge inside the furlong.

The Astronomic Handicap was all Rommel in the betting and also in the race. This ward of Pesi Shroff was at unplayable odds and none of the other runners barring bottom-weighted Temptation seemed to be interested in the race.

Hazel Morgan was the piping hot favourite in the race for the Aunty Pip Plate but she did not live up to expectations. She did show early speed but fizzled out when challenged by Accardo in the straight. It was another story that Afzal Khan brought Secret Whispers with a great run in the straight to post day’s biggest upset.

The last two races belonged to Christopher Alford. Alterity, despite his top-weight, had enough class to stay ahead of the field from the 800 marker. However, had Ashish on Solid Success not disbalanced his out at almost the same point, he may well have been nearer at the finish. The latter was seen to devour ground in the closing stages of the race and was only a half-length shy at the wire.

Spirited Star brought joy for her trainer Arti Doctor as she made every post a winning one in the day’s final event. The aged Magic mantra did put up a good run to finish runner-up but never really threatened the winner seriously.