As was expected, the short ‘sweet’ card of six events proved to be a bitter pill for punters to swallow. Barring a couple of fancied runners, the rest of the afternoon was spent counting one’s losses for most of those present. Three trainers and one jockey completed a brace each. The trio in the former category were Vikash Jaiswal, Robert Gowli and Errol Bhungard while the sole rider to notch up a double was Md islam.

The main event, The Winfree Handicap, saw the quartet of fancied runners comprising Welcome Smile, Lake Sunrise, Knight Of The Realm and Leandro fall by the wayside as Errol Bhungard’s Apical Finala raised a winning gallop in the straight. After Lake Sunrise and Leandro had shown the way for most part, Ranjeet Singh astride the 10/1 shot set him alight at the distance post and the son of Crown Jewels out of Justice For All responded gamely. Front-running Lake Sunrise held on to the runner-up berth.

The final race of the day, The Sreepriya Handicap, proved to be a wet blanket for punters who were trying to recover their losses with a wager on the favourite Daddy Cool. The Arti Doctor-trained five-year-old is known to possess a short burst of speed and Shailesh Shinde rode a purposeful race by keeping him in check till the final furlong. Unfortunately, that was not enough as even after crossing his nearest rival (which happened to be front-running Haynestown in this case), he faltered and was pegged back by the mount of apprentice Md Javed. The obvious advantage that Jaiswal-trained Haynestown had over the older horse was a prominent forward outing which Daddy Cool has been lacking for some time now.

The day commenced happily enough for turfites as the favourite Secret Spark from Vikash Jaiswal’s yard was judiciously handled by Md Islam to peg back Christopher Alford’s mount Tough One in the final furlong. Stablemate of the winner, Sham Sunder, was a disinterested third and may be worth following.

The brave-hearted filly Passport (Ajaad – My Time) notched up the fifth win of her career – three of these triumphs coming in the hands of apprentice Md Azharuddin, who on this day was as confident as any experienced jockey could be. Allowing the second favourite Songstress to call the shots till the straight, Passport and Azharuddin came with a fluent run to sail past the front-runner, thus vindicating the judgement of her original trainer Daniel David who is currently serving out the last days of his suspension. The public choice Exxin ran a poor second after drifting out in the straight.

The win of Robert Gowli-trained Eternal Instinct was long overdue and she at last came good in the hands of Md Islam by bagging the upper division of The Jeweller Handicap. She was a tad better at weights than the favourite Thrice Blessed and Islam’s forceful finish did the rest. Ballet Belle ran an eye-catching third and will be worth following. The rest of the eight-horse field were never in it.

Aided by a mock race in the company of Cool Cat, Flying Boy (M Ali Khan astride) made mincemeat of his six rivals. Good Wood Princess showed some early speed while Deccan Princess showed nothing.