With six racedays in the season left, trainer Bharath Singh staked his claim for the trainers’ championship by lifting the Wiseman Cup with Star Symphony (Placerville-Symphony of Fire) and thus being on level terms with his closest rival Patrick Quinn, who too added one to his tally with Fireback.

As per the script of the Wiseman Cup overworked River Star did try to make it a start-to-finish affair but found a disturbing element in Ares who hugged the rails resulting in the former drifting out at the top of the straight under duress. That left the passage clear for the on-money public choice Star Symphony (Shailesh Shinde up) to thunder down the space vacated by his owner-mate and grab the lead. The final furlong was however tense for Shinde as the unpredictable Crown Rule materialised out of nowhere on his flank. Nevertheless, the big striding favourite kept going under Shinde’s stick to pocket the sprint.

The Grand Annual Handicap saw fashionably bred Audrick installed as the firm 7/4 favourite though he was traversing a mile on his maiden start. As expected, the sprinting ability of the filly Cynosure took her to the helm of affairs as the gates opened. She was followed by Conquerable, Astaire, Valerosa, American Pie and the rest. The other fancied runner from the Vijay Singh yard, Adelino, was being pushed to stay in the hunt very early in the race. The eventual winner Something Stupid was lying last but one and remained there till the turning for home.

As heads turned into the homestretch, it was soon clear that Valerosa would be the one from Bharath Singh’s stable as the main contender. However, when shown daylight by rider Imran Chisty, she failed to draw away, giving the opportunity to Audrick and Something Stupid to overhaul her in the final furlong. Jockey NS Parmar rode the 7/1 shot from Shafiq Khan’s yard with a sense of purpose and timed his run well. The son of Epicentre out of Bollinger proved himself a worthy miler.

After his forward run in the hands of Dwyer in the In The Spotlight Cup, Patrick Quinn-trained Fireback (Oath South Beach) was backed down to favouritism over seven furlongs and did not disappoint in the hands of apprentice Zarar Alam. The speedy front-runner made every post a winning one with much fancied Abubble trying to get on terms several lengths behind. The rest were never in it.

 Quinn and Alam missed out narrowly on the opening race of the day when their Sreeyantra fell short by a whisker as Imran Chisty rode a do-or-die finish on Dance In China. The Vikash Jaiswal-trained runner finally saw the winning post after a string of failures.

Daniel David-trained Sartaj picked up his second race of the season when he got the better of runaway Swiss King in the home stretch. This, despite losing considerable ground at the start. Jockey Arman Khan rode a responsible race on the fancied runner.

Vijay Singh-trained Noble Defender (China Visit-Allesca) was another who finally saw the winning post. But his effort in the mile race for the Red Chief Cup was not without a spot of bother. Neeraj Rawal appeared to lose control over his mount in the straight and the horse shifted out alarmingly. Thankfully for the connections, he was well ahead of the favourite Tasveer who was about to make his move. Rawal then corrected his mount before the horse could do any further damage by shifting in suddenly. Tasveer subsequently finished strongly on his inside but went down narrowly.

Pesi Shroff-trained Covent Garden (Noverre-Bridgeofsighs) was a strong favourite to lift the Alterio Cup and she did not disappoint in the hands of Kadam. Songwriter failed to impress and the minor placings were occupied by Kwan Yin and Elusive Thought.

The most impressive winner of the afternoon was probably Manvendra Singh’s Lady Ship. In the hands of local favourite Christopher Alford, she made every post of the 2000 metres race for the Wind Song Handicap a winning one at juicy odds of 6/1. Much fancied Delafruz was in hot pursuit in the straight but in the final furlong, Alford showed that he had something in hand as he drew away. Bottom-weighted Smokey Baba failed to make the frame.