An appalling result and an even more appalling piece of pace-judgement by two of the centre’s top riding talents. How otherwise can one explain the victory of Bharath Singh-trained Star Symphony in the mile race for the Mossy Bear Cup on Saturday. Such was the run of the race that experienced commentator Cyrus Madan was quick to foresee what could possibly be in store as he remarked off the cuff “Could we see an upset here!”, barely 600 metres after the start.

Though the Vijay Singh stable chose to use a pacemaker in the form of Hall Of Glory, the beneficiary of this ploy was none other than the winner himself. The stable’s spearhead Dandified was caught in ‘no man’s land’ within 400 metres of the start and by the half-way mark, jockey Christopher Alford had lost the plot, as he was running in the second last slot, nearly 15 lengths behind Star Symphony, who in turn was about six lengths behind the pacemaker. Two lengths ahead of Alford was Berlusconi and two lengths behind him was the second favourite Ocean And Beyond. None of the tailenders obviously believed that Star Symphony posed any serious threat and allowed him the liberty of a ‘free’ run, much like a ‘free header’ in soccer. As all soccer fans will know, that can often end in disaster, so was the case here. Star Symphony was running at his own pace right through and Shailesh Shinde needed a couple of cracks from his whalebone to keep him going in the straight.

Dandified had beaten the latter thrice this season while giving him weight but he found the leeway a little too much to handle on this occasion, even though they were at level weights. As for Imran Chisty astride Ocean And Beyond, he may be excused to a certain extent as his mount is an owner-mate of Star Symphony. In a way, his ploy of sitting behind Dandified helped Star Symphony pull off a stunning upset.

The hypothetical question that arises is ‘What would the race have been like without the pace-maker?’ That’s a question that many aficionados of the game would no doubt like to give some thought to. The chances are that the race would have been run at a crawling pace with Berlusconi up front, and the two heavy-weights would have been fighting for supremacy at the wire. But, then the question is hypothetical and purely of academic interest. Punters of both the fancied runners have already burnt their fingers!

While on the topic of pace-judgement, oldtimers may recall that in the summer of 1980 at Bangalore, Young Tipu (the late Waheed up) had got the better of the legendary Red Chieftain (Jagdish up) over a mile-and-quarter by opening a gap of nearly 30 lengths. But on that day, the Chieftain was conceding a massive 18 kg to the front-runner, hence his rider may be excused. But at level weights, such indiscretion is inexcusable!

The win of Star Symphony completed a treble for both trainer Bharath Singh and Shailesh Shinde. The duo had earlier combined fruitfully to hoist the winning flag with Serena and Happy Princess. The former, a filly by Burden Of Proof out of Loch Katrine, quite easily sailed past front-running Incanto Bliss to defy the 4kg penalty for her earlier victory. Second favourite Covent Garden did produce rousing gallop in the straight but it was too late for any good.

Shinde had to pull out all stops in the Portofino Handicap astride Happy Princess to keep at bay the fast-finishing top-weight Hot Iron along the rails. The latter’s run was noteworthy as he had lost some ground at the start.

Jockey Christopher Alford’s treble comprised Ace Elegance in the Maltese Prince Handicap and the two divisions of the Ming Dynasty Handicap with Anassa and Alcander. Though running for the first time after bursting her blood vessels nearly six months ago, fashionably bred Ace Elegance (Ace-Forever Elegance) got the better of the temperamental Abarth and the one-paced Hurricane Andrew. Alford settled the filly well and gathered her up, for a lovely run down the middle in the straight.

Alford had to fight tooth-and-nail with his closest rivals to bring home the bacon with Anassa (Black Cash-Eau De Vie) and Alcander ( Warrshan-Pas De L’argent). While the former had a tough time collaring runaway Smooth As Silk, the latter had to be ridden flat out to get the better of In The Twilight close home. The last named closed as the favourite, but was drifting out under pressure as Chisty was going hell for leather. Though Alcander was ‘drifting’ with her, Alford never took his foot of the accelerator pedal, and it paid rich dividends in the end for the stable.

The curtain-raiser saw Patrick Quinn-trained Zoffany outpace the course favourite Angels Quest in the straight. Apprentice Arman Khan, atop the eventual winner, was always in touch with the front-runners and used his mount’s superior stamina to good effect.

Apprentice Jorawar Singh continued from where he had left off astride Petaloid, when he piloted Javed Khan-schooled Rising Power (Warrshan-Miss Rising) to an effortless victory in the Zeenee Handicap.