There was not a moment of boredom during the longdrawn card of nine races on Friday. Quite a few of the races had their moment of thrill and glory, and none more than Caravaggio’s in the 2000 metres race for the Maharajadhiraja Uday Chand Mahtab Of Burdwan Memorial Cup. This five-year-old son of Razeen out of Priceless, from Bharath Singh’s yard, was piloted by Aadesh Kumar very cleverly to snatch the spoils from Work Force.

After permitting Sexy Eyes and Rising Hero to call the shots till the turning for home, Aadesh very smrtly switched Caravaggio to the rails while Work Force made his bid on the outside. Both were going hell for leather in the final furlong. At the wire, the property of Dr. Vijay Mallya prevailed by half-a-length. Razmaden finished a flying third. The even-money favourite Cambiasso was well positioned till the 600 before losing ground after being squeezed for space as Rising Hero was fast coming back at him near the 600 and Caravaggio was jostling for a box seat.

There were a host of close finishes during the afternoon. The BharathSingh-Trevor Patel combo opened their account with Precious (Ajaad-Genuine Article) in the lower division of the Rebel Warrior Handicap. Like a handy fourth while the 5/2 joint favourite Ijlal set a scorching pace, Trevor brought the filly with a scintillating run and quickly switched his whip hand to avoid the winner from drifting in sharply. It was a fine piece of horsemanship and some of the local apprentices would do well to take a few tips from him.

The duo’s second winner was Cerise (Hurricane State-Clairet), who produced a start-to-finish encore, giving absolutely no chance to the favourite Atwater who had a bit of a tardy beginning. The winner was available at 2/1 and is a property of Dr Vijay Mallya.

It was Trevor’s grandstand finish on Smokin Aces (Diffident-Credential) that brought visitors to the edge of their seats. The favourite Mesmerizer lost some ground at the start and yet came with a stupendous run in the straight and looked as if he might pull it off. However, Trevor had other ideas as he squeezed a passage down the middle and his relentless pressure helped him peg back the public choice with his 7/1 shot.

Trevor and Bharath closed their account by bringing the curtain down with another lesser fancied runner – Star Symphony (Placerville-Symphony Of Fire) in the lower division of the Stingray Handicap. Thus, Bharath ended the afternoon with five winners while Trevor had four to his credit.

Pesi Shroff and Parmar too fared quite well with a lucrative double. Istanbul (Emerald Cat – Flying Rani) won the Cornish Prince Handicap start-to-finish despite drifting out of a straight course and taking Headliner with him. He subsequently survived an objection.

The win of Consensus (Emerald Cat-Prelude To A Kiss) was truly commendable. Bernardino had stolen a march in the Amberetta Handicap but a persevering Parmar brought the three-year-old with a fluent run in his maiden start.

Trainer Vijay Singh also completed a well-backed double. Fashionably bred Airleas (China Visit-Silver Grey) won the upper division of the Rebel Warrior Handicap effortlessly with top-weight jockey B Krishnan astride while Abriella (China Visit-Allaire) gave Christopher Alford an armchair ride in the El Padrone Handicap.