Trainer Daniel David shot to the top of the ‘trainers’ championship table’ with a smashing quadruple on Tuesday. His trusted knight of pigskin – B. Sreekanth, who flew in from the south, was in great nick as well as he piloted home three of those winners. The only other trainer to make an impact on this afternoon was Javed Khan who led in a treble which included Elusive Thought, Salt and Escape To Victory.

Salt, a five-year-old mare by Diffident out of Conqueress, was handled with great understanding by Shailesh Shinde to pull off a bloodless coup  in the Subianca Handicap. Realising that the likes of Ares and Ocean Legacy will be displaying their early speed over the sharp essay, Shinde allowed his mount to settle and gradually moved her up on the outside. Such was her superiority that as heads turned for home and the front-runners were showing distress signals, Salt moved up with a stupendous gallop to reduce it to a one-horse race. Amaretto moved up to occupy the runner-up berth when Shinde was easing his mount.

Shinde and Javed combined again in the last race of the day , The Not Much Handicap, to bring down the curtain with Escape To Victory (Papal Bull-Madaeh). The three-year-old filly won a difficult race as Daniel David’s heavily touted Victorian Vice had stolen a march after stablemate Spur Of The Moment had done all the spadework. Shinde however was not ready to give up the fight and steered his mount to victory after much coaxing, through a narrow gap on the inside of Victorian Vice.

Javed’s first winner of the afternoon was Elusive Thought (Hurricane State-Elusive Contest) who was ridden to victory by able apprentice Jorawar Singh. The lad took no chances as his mount shot of the gates like a scalded cat and held on by a whisker from another apprentice mount (Rithambhra). Fancied runner Songstress was a struggling third while the favourite Afrah lost some ground at the start and found the trip too sharp.

The David-Sreekanth combo started the afternoon with a bang as their runner Roman Centurion (Royal Gladiator-Temple Tune) landed the spoils with a late run in the curtain-raiser, The Pendragon Handicap. While the likes of Silken Senorita and Shivalik Shakti wre going hammer and tongs in the straight, Sreekanth coolly gathered his mount to move down the centre of the field with a thunderous gallop and peg back the duo. The winner is known to prefer a seven furlong trip and the sharp essay brought out the best in both horse and rider.

The winning combination continued their good work with Victorian Secret (Hurricane State-Allonia) in the Fusebox Handicap. The favourite Conquerable had an useful lead in the straight but shifted out of a straight course. This gave the opportunistic Sreekanth the moment he needed as he urged his mount to take up the running along the rails. Fancied by a section, Maranello was never in it after being highly fractious at the starting stalls.

The David-Sreekanth combo sealed their day with Our Chieftain (Diffident-Amazing Girl) who defied the winning penalty to easily account for Silver Silver in The Dorania Handicap. Once again, Sreekanth gathered his mount with great maturity before making his run on the extreme outside.

David’s only other winner came in the lower division of the Audubon Handicap which saw his wards occupy the first three slots. Cider With Rosie (Sk Israil up) edged out front-running Angel Heights while Don Magnifico ended third.