Jockey Christopher Alford and his mount Aerator stole the show on a murky Wednesday as the five-year-old gelding cleverly controlled the pace of the 1800 metres race for The Manohar Lal Cup to retire a worthy winner. It was the first time in his career that the Vijay Singh ward was receiving weight from the classy four-year-old filly Silverina and Alford took full advantage of that fact by taking the 6/1 shot to the helm of affairs as the gates opened. The property of Mr Deepak Khaitan was looking a picture in the paddock and it was well clear before the bend that he was in no mood to shorten his strides. On the contrary, he stretched away beautifully in the straight to stop the clock at an extremely creditable 1min 54.9sec. With false rails up and a penetrometer reading of 2.2, that was indeed an excellent display on the monsoon track.

The big-hearted filly Silverina will be better off after this run as she was having her first outing in five months and may have been a trifle rusty.

Alford’s first winner of the afternoon was an amazing three-year-old gelding named Snowdrift ( Multidimensional – Snow Tiger). This half-brother to Snowscape, also from Vijay Singh’s yard, displayed quickfire acceleration the moment Alford showed him daylight near the distance post and the hapless field of seven was left standing. Significant was the best of the rest. Fiery Ciel burst his blood vessels.

Alford’s second back-to-back treble came in the afternoon’s final event, The Fair Mona Handicap, when he piloted Manvendra Singh’s Avision (Ace-Blurr) to her second consecutive triumph. He rode a copybook race and though Rocket Ball came with a late charge (as he is wont to do), the winner was in no danger of being overhauled. Promising three-year-old Astaire needed the run while Rappadan Glory found her rival a little too strong.

The withdrawal of Hamdani left six in the fray for the Bright Law Handicap. As the gates opened, Shezad Khan took Robert Gowli’s Ebony Princess to the helm of affairs and stayed there all the way despite a good late challenge from Shivalik Shakti. Blue Sea once again disappointed her followers who inevitably go by the grapevine.

The withdrawal of piping hot favourite Roman Centurion in the morning of the race, left the Sans Ame Handicap wide open. Fancied strongly by his connections, the rainy track did not help front-running Hurricane Bird any. Classical Romance ran like a passenger while the two bottom weights Gonna Be A Rockstar and Vaani moved up late. The last named, from Jasbir Singh’s stable, used her superior stamina to pull away in the straight in the hands of Srinivas Rao.

Gallop To Glory lived up to his name after an easy first outing. The Arti Doctor-trained chestnut by Mathematician out of Perfect Rhythm showed no signs of discomfort despite shouldering top-weight and collared front-running Don Magnifico quite easily. After a 3kg penalty for his last good second, Daniel David’s Victorian Vice found it difficult to match strides with a younger animal though she was backed down to favouritism.

The Flying Glance Handicap saw Robert Gowli complete a brace as his Hurricane Star was powered to an impressive victory over Trrust In Me. After a slow getaway, Amika was a fair third while the favourite Anassa failed to accelerate when the heat was on. The sluggish track may have been partly responsible for top-weight Torch Of Life putting up such a pathetic show after running  a good third last time out.