It was an afternoon that jockey Shailesh Shinde is unlikely to forget in a hurry. The promising local rider notched up a well-crafted quadruple commencing with Promissory Note and ending with Secret Romance. In between the two were Pious Lady and Head Hunter. The lad must be especially proud of the manner in which he piloted Padmanabhan-trained Pious Lady (Ace-Madame Equis) to a short-head triumph over Stiling Veil who was being ridden flat out by champion rider Christopher Alford. The verdict could have gone either way but Shinde kept his wits about him and stuck close to the rails. Lady Luck played her part too as the camera caught the ‘bobbing head’ of Pious Lady first when it was down while Stiling Veil’s was up.

Shinde rode a copybook race atop Rutherford Alford-trained Head Hunter (Emerald Cat-Flying Rani) to lift the Haskell David Memorial Cup with a degree of comfort. After jumping out first from the gates, he permitted Sokudo and Social Network to call the early shots before taking over the running in the straight albeit under the stick. Scarface lost all his chances at the jump-out and yet finished a fairly good fourth. Gluteus Maximus was stretching out well in the final furlong and will be worth keeping an eye on.

Patrick Quinn’s Promissory Note (European-Ammo Girl) won the Lombard Handicap without too much trouble as he collared the front-running Credit Swap at the top of the straight and drew away from the field. Equally facile was the win of Bath-schooled Secret Romance (Steinbeck-Pitlochry) who jumped out first and stayed there all the way. Knight Of The Realm gave up the fight at the top of the straight.

The Honk Kong Jockey Club Trophy, the first major race for youngsters, saw Arti Doctor-trained Multimagic cause an upset. The gelding by Multidimensional out of Magical Romance pulled away from the field in the straight before a staving off a belated challenge from Abrooke. Christopher Alford on the latter once again fell short by a short-head after making up a considerable amount of leeway. The disappointment in the field was the favourite Santa Caterina who ran like a dud.

Speedy Red Passion (Royal Gladiator-Shadow Dancing) from Vikash Jaiswal’s yard lifted the Ich Dien Cup despite an outside draw. Jockey Franco DSilva had to ride out his mount in the final furlong to get the better of Torch Of Life, atop whom Culhane was going hell for leather. The favourite Ashwa Prabir was never really in it while Stand Apart made up some ground after a sluggish start.

Apache Gold (Black Cash-le Reve) was unlucky to lose last time out as the Harish’s foot had slipped out of the stirrup iron. On this occasion, Md Islam made no mistake as he positioned his mount at the outset behind the front-runner before winning in commanding fashion. The favourite I Command was a poor third. Mohit Singh suffered a fall from Jugni State in this race and did not ride for the rest of the afternoon.

Arti Doctor-trained Smooth As Silk (New Famous-Silken Magic), a half-sister to Silken Dancer, gave Kamlesh an armchair ride to lift the Bhishma Plate. Fancied Rainbow Dancer was a faraway second.

The day’s proceedings were livened up by the presence of English cricketers Cook and Pietersen who were understandably accorded VIP treatment and permitted to watch the proceedings from the Stewards Box despite their ‘beach’ attire. After all, cricketers are the demigods of our country and a second opportunity to have such honoured guests may not arise in the near future.