A fascinating afternoon of racing would have ended disastrously for punters had not the last two favourites obliged in a card of seven events. While War Games won by the skin of his teeth, Deserving Visit brought the curtain down quite comfortably, and in the process completed a fine treble for Shailesh Shinde, who had drawn a blank on the first two days of the season.

Shinde started the day with the half-money favourite Evesham from Vijay Singh’s stable.  The filly had the benefit of a recent mock race. The youngster by Tariq out of Everybody Counts drifted out at the bend and yet ran well enough to peg back the likes of Beyond Expectations and Pinball Wizard. She is bound to improve further after this run and may excel over slightly longer trips.

Shailesh’s next winner was Manvendra Singh’s Astatki who lost out narrowly on the opening day. On this occasion, she made it a start-to-finish affair and held on by half a length from a fast-finishing piping hot favourite Torero who was a little late to move into top gear. Many of the three-year-olds take a little time to get used to the monsoon track and Torero will no doubt improve after this run. Moreover, Astatki had the benefit of a run and used her flying start to good effect.

Shinde completed his hat-trick with a fluent win on Vijay Singh-trained Deserving Visit (China Visit-Deserving Lady). Second favourite Santos was indeed outclassed by a superior animal. The surprise packet was Jassi’s Star who finished runner-up.

The seven-furlong race for The Hokaido Cup saw Javed Khan-trained Style Dan installed as the firm 10-to-7-on favourite. While the colt by Stardan out of Star N Style has been known to negotiate seven furlong trips  successfully in the past, the manner in which apprentice  Azharuddin rode left much to be desired, to say the least. As if he was in a hurry to catch a train, to quote a cliche. There was no need to cut pace with speedy Conquerable. The latter’s presence should have in fact made the task easier for the favourite, had he been able to hold him in check while the front-runner went on a merry jaunt. Of course, the lad cannot be faulted if he was following the stable’s instructions.

The Cup was lifted by Vikash Jaiswal-trained Stiling Veil whose run benefit no doubt helped her come good. Nelson Maseyk improved the rank outsider’s position gradually from the rear and the six-year-old mare responded gamely in  the straight. Both Skyway and Shivalik Shakti ran notable races and are the ones for the notebook. The disappointment in the race was the second favourite In The Sunlight, who ran below par.

The race for The Moon Mission Handicap turned out to be an edge-of-the seat thriller. Vijay Singh’s Alcander almost pulled it off as the in-form Shailesh Shinde went on a start-to-finish mission. The speedster took the shortest route home and very nearly made ends meet, so to speak. The favourite War Games was in close attendance right through but veered out to the outer rails under pressure. Apprentice Azharuddin however kept going at full throttle and eventually gained the day by a narrow margin. In this race, Impressive Glory suffered a nasty fall and had to be put down. Thankfully, jockey Md Islam was fortunate to escape without serious injury.

The opening race of the day was an open affair with four of the five runners finding backers. Benefitted by a recent mock race, Jasbir Singh-trained Vaani overhauled front-running favourite Le Chocolat inside the distance. Jockey B Srinivas Rao piloted the winner. The second favourite Sreeyantra ran a miserable race to finish last, as did the other backmarker Dance In China, who was fancied by quite a few.

Backed to the exclusion of all others, public choice Elusive Legend was given a rather overconfident ride by Md Javed and paid the price. The filly is known to be low on gas and the start-to-finish top-weight run over six furlongs obviously did not agree with her. She was surprised by Shafiq Khan-trained Significant close home with apprentice Zarar Alam in the saddle.