There was no short supply of thrills at RCTC despite the season slowly but surely drawing to a close.

Apprentice Kishore Kadam rode a brilliant finish astride the filly Crown Princess to land the spoils in tThe Star Magic Cup run over seven furlongs . Italian Star closed as the favourite and took over the running smoothly in the straight. He looked a winner at 100 metres from home but buckled in the last stride to the Pesi Shroff-trained sprinter. Christopher Alford’s mount Romantic Quest was drawn on the extreme outside, other than which he may well have been nearer at the finish. Shroff recorded a treble on the day, his other winners being Hazel Morgan and Aptiana.

The afternoon in fact belonged to apprentices, which augurs well for racing at this centre. Earlier, Kadam had ridden Hazel Morgan to a fairly impressive win in the Illustrious Reign Plate. The favourite Pine Valley had his chances but failed to match strides with the winner. Jockey Alford used the stick freely on his mount but failed to narrow the leeway. The other runners in the 14-horse field failed to match strides with this pair.

It was apprentice Ashhad Asbar who set the ball rolling for his clan when he pulled off a smashing victory atop Italian Glory in the Ming Dynasty Handicap. The Jaiswals had a host of runners in the field but had no answer to the John Stephens ward galloping resolutely in the straight after Asmodeus had stolen a march. With his 40th win, Asbar turned a full jockey.

The upper division of the Topspin Handicap saw apprentice Mahesh shoot ahead on Thousand Stars and stay there all the way despite drifting out of a straight course. The eight-year-old got the better of the favourite Bright Blossom and the fast-finishing Lizzy Arden.

Man About Town won the lower division of the same race without raising a sweat. The speedy St Moritz surrendered his lead to the Sarfaraz Khan ward near the distance post. The favourite Regal Appeal finished way down the field. He probably needed this lung-opener.

Christopher Alford rode the first of his two winners when he guided Arti Doctor-trained Impressive Wish to a confident triumph in the upper division of the Glasgow Courser Handicap. The colt got the better of the runaway Best of The Blues midway up the straight. It appeared that none of the other runners were interested in the race. Alford’s next mount, Andronicus, went down on the final stride to the aged Cosmos from Jasbir Singh’s yard. It was a fine effort from the aged chestnut in the hands of Pawan Sharma.

the most facile winner of the day was in the last race where Alford’s mount Aptiana won as he liked. The filly has more races in store for her.