Amazing five-year-old Dandified, from the stable of Vijay Singh, pocketed the Champions’ Sprint Trophy on Saturday by getting the measure of Bullet close home, after the latter had tried to steal a march at the top of the straight. Supremely confident Christopher Alford, did not touch his whalebone during the entire episode. “I never use the whip on Dandified as it’s not required”, commented the ace rider after pegging back Bullet near home. The versatile sprinter seemed to know what is expected of him and that really was more important to hoist the winning flag.

Wind of Soul cut a fast pace, followed by Bullet and the others while the on-money favourite Dandified was dead last. Alford brought his mount on the wide outside at the bend and made his run in the straight as usual. However, Dasrath Singh on Bullet was using the whip freely and threatened to pull off an upset. Though six furlongs is a trifle sharp for the son of Rebuttal out of Dandoona, Alford did not lose his cool as he gradually narrowed the leeway to finally pip his adversary at the post. The afternoon belonged to the red-and-gold colours of Mr Deepak Khaitan as they led in a treble.

Patrick Quinn-trained Iverness continued to make a mockery of her penalty  as she lifted The Aspirant Cup with a degree of comfort to notch up her fourth successive win this season and seems to be a prime candidate for the ‘horse of the season’ title. While Chouhan had ridden her on the last three occasions, Chisty virtually completed the job in an identical manner as he maintained her in second slot behind Rising Power till the turning for home and then bid adios to his nearest rival and stablemate River Star.

The presence of a vast number of police personnel at RCTC made sure that there was no possibility of the recurrence of the unsavoury incidents of New Year’s Day. The curtain went up with the running of the Icelandic Handicap over a mile-and-quarter. As is his wont, Highly Explosive set a cracking pace and shot his bolt at the top of straight when Jimmy Fortune brought the favourite Antara from the rear but was surprised to find Suraj Narredu and Snow Mountain squeezing through down the middle to make a race of it. The duo went hammer and tongs all the way to the wire with Antara prevailing by the proverbial whisker.

The filly Aviette (Unbridled Energy-Alexander Charlotte) set the ball rolling for the red-and-gold silks as she lifted the Burning Fire Cup as she liked. In her last essay, the Vijay Singh ward was badly off the mark but fortunately for her, the race was declared null and void due to extraneous reasons. On this occasion, Shailesh Shinde ensured that she was first out of the gates and simply ran away from the field.

Patrick Quinn and Suraj Narredu teamed up to enjoy success with speedster Sreevahini who won the upper division of the Exclusive Virtue Handicap start-to-finish. The favourite Songwriter was never in it and a far cry from her usual forward self. In fact, jockey B. Sreekanth had a bad day at office as he failed to open his account. His other two fancied mounts – Rewarding and Treasure Island, both bit the dust.

Rank outsider Elusive Hurricane, another Vijay Singh runner, shocked all and sundry when she won the lower division of the Exclusive Virtue Handicap in a tight finish. The half-money favourite Essenza ran a lethargic race and only raised a gallop when it was too late. Speedy Rewarding was taken out by Noble Defender, other than which she may have been nearer at the finish. Apprentice Jorawar who replaced the indisposed Munna Alam atop Elusive Hurricane made his run on the inside of the two ‘drifters’ to secure a half-length triumph, that too without virtually claiming any of his eligible 4kg allowance as his body-weight is 51.5kg.

The running of the Pat Quinn Memorial Cup saw all the fancied runners fall by the wayside while Shobhan Babu pulled off an unexpected triumph with Divine Symphony. Fancied youngsters Assassin, Copernicus and Altanza all disappointed. War Games was a creditable runner-up, though his jockey Sk Zaffar Riaz suffered a fall after passing the winning post. In The Twilight continued to earn her corn bill in the hands of Md Javed as she drifted to the outer rails and finished third.

Vijay Singh and Christopher Alford combined to produce an encore with Amorino (Chevalier-Arnatta) who staved off a strong challenge from Treasure Island in the day’s final event. The favourite Impression was outclassed by this pair.