Arti Doctor’s Antara played the ‘handicap’ card under some forceful horsemanship by Shrikant Kamble to land the spoils in the Cameo Handicap. Vijay Singh-trained Exclusive Colours was the half-money public choice after his two facile victories and though he was outclassed by Antara prior to that while receiving 4kg from her, it was thought that the Multidimensional colt had improved sufficiently to overcome that handicap disadvantage. But not so at all! Though a year older than the colt, Arti Doctor’s ward put to good use the revised scale and edged out the public choice and top-weight Lantana Lady at the wire. C. Alford declaring a kg overweight did not help matters any.

Kamble had to give a wake-up call to his mount near the 600 marker to be close on the heels of the front pair of Lantana Lady and Exclusive Colours who were going stride for stride from the 800 marker. While the latter failed in his quest to collar the  ‘Lady’, some more use of the whalebone on Antara ensured that she got up to edge past the duo close home.

While the first half of the eight-event card proved disastrous for punters as favourites fell by the wayside, the second half of the card provided some relief as three public choices (including a couple of successful gambles on Flying Star and Analyst) materialised. Bond Girl was the other fancied runner, who won, albeit by the skin of her teeth, from a persistent Piaffe.

Deepak Karki-trained Flying Star used apprentice Azharuddin’s allowance to good effect as the top-weight claimed the Almanac Cup quite comfortably from Drop The Pressure. However, the winner’s task was made that much easier by pacemaker Silver Silver who called it a day near the distance post. The favourite Altanza left all his chances at the gates and trailed the field before making up a little ground. The recent winner Flying Boy failed to meet the class.

Apprentice Md Javed, who was astride Altanza, started the afternoon well for the Vijay Singh stable as he rode out his mount Elusive Legend hands and heels impressively to claim The Starry Flag Handicap. The favourite Alicante never showed any inclination to collar the front runners Chhundu and I Command, while Fankaar may have found the trip a little sharp.

The afternoon’s biggest upset was Farley Rodrigues-trained A Ma Shukum in the mile race for the Robin Hood Handicap. Surjeet Singh rode the five-year-old to victory after front runners Riverdown Empress and Dance In China cut each other’s throats. Massachusettes would have in all probabilities won the race if he had been handled with a little more competence. Waheed’s horsemanship since his arrival here has been very weak and unimaginative and his performance on Massachusettes was no better. After losing a bit of ground at the start, he took his mount ten wide at the turn and the horse finished a good second without any help from the saddle whatsoever. The false favourite Regal Opportunity was never in it.

Shafiq Khan-trained Tough One won his second race of the season as a rank outsider as Afzal Khan brought him with giant strides on the wide outside to peg back runaway  Rithambhra and Brangelina and claim the Aztec Handicap.

The race for The Predator Handicap was reduced to seven runners after the withdrawals of Le Chocolat (who bolted) and Fiery Ciel. There were however only two triers in the race (Piaffe and Bond Girl). The rest of the runners (barring natural front-runner Highly Explosive) were content to take a back seat as these two overnight ‘heavyweights’ fought all the way, with Bond Girl prevailing by the proverbial whisker under Shailesh Shinde’s whip.

The upper division of the Bold Chieftain Plate for youngsters saw a good gamble on Bath-trained Analyst (Shezad up) materialise. Second in demand Sage Valley won the lower division after a brief struggle with pubic choice Ristretto in the straight.