Heavy showers during the entire Saturday afternoon ensured poor visibility and an average penetrometer reading of 2.4, which by local monsoon track standards is pretty high. It is but natural that quite a few of the favourites were hindered by the elements – but then, the flip side of the coin is that the elements are the same for one and all – so why take that into account at all. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that, as horses are not machines, neither are the jockeys on their back. Some of our four-footed friends just revel in the rain (Primrose being a prime example) while some others just detest the heavy going and the pitter-patter on their eyes. So there you have it! That’s monsoon racing. One has to take the good with the bad. To add to these woes was the indifferent horsemanship on view in a couple of events and the ultimate sufferers being the punters who burnt holes in their pockets.

The main event, The Stewards Cup, saw Bharath Singh-trained Bullet (Major Impact-Euro Star) cause a sensation. The seven-year-old’s last run with Multimagic was an eye-catching one. By the terms of the race, he was better off at weights. The question was whether he would manage to last out the extra furlong on this kind of going. His huge experience obviously helped his cause as he scooted past front-running Mr India in the straight and jockey Vaibhav simply made a beeline for the winning post thereafter. Where Sandeep Rajput atop the favourite Gentle Knowledge erred was giving his adversary too much of a leeway at the top of the straight. He made up considerable ground in the final furlong but it was not sufficient. At the all important end, he was still three-parts of a length short.

Arti Doctor’s Primrose (Chevalier-So Shocking/Ruia Stud) showed that she is a ‘woman for all seasons’ as she lifted The Defence Forces Cup in great style from the favourite Pick Pocket. Tracking Bongani till about 300 metres from home, the nimble footed filly, with Kamlesh astride,  simply sprinted away to the afternoon’s easiest victory. The favourite plodded on to be an unimpressive second.

The Unknown Warrior cup saw top-weight Smart Hunter (Royal Kingdom-Sunspangled) defy the 3.5kg penalty for his last victory in a stronger field. The Manvendra Singh ward was ridden confidently by heavy-weight B. Mahesh. He chose the longest route from the rear of the field while the likes of the hot favourite Amarilla and No Politics Please were tussling for supremacy up front. At the distance post itself, it was clear that the ‘Hunter’ was going to leave his rivals behind. Bucharest ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

Jockey Mahesh completed a well-deserved double when he piloted Beyond Expectation from Javed Khan’s yard to a successful gamble in the Ex-Serviceman’s Plate. He rode a flawless mile race  atop the Ikthyar-Zuni colt bred at Nanoli Stud.  Lying a handy fourth while Marilyn and Lanner Falcon exchanged leads, Beyond Expectation moved with giant strides on the outside to land the spoils. Ante-post favourite Aculeus moved up from the rear to run a good second and is one for the notebook.

The afternoon  commenced with Shafiq Khan-trained Massachusettes (Royal Gladiator-Gold N Honey/ Pratap Stud) pulling off a start-to-finish 2000 metres triumph in the hands of apprentice Ranidan Singh. Once again, it would be fair to say that apprentice Zarar Alam atop the on-money public choice Barocci appeared to have erred in his judgement and given his adversary too much of a lead. This was evident by the amount of ground he covered in the straight.

Rutherford Alford’s Head Hunter scalped quite a few ‘Ambicka’ punters. The Emerald Cat – Flying Rani six-year-old got a head start and Md Imran simply refused to look back as Richard Alford’s Ambicka travelled threateningly on his flank. The rest were never really in it. Some race!

The curtain came down with Vijay Singh-trained Ace Of Fire (Ace-Burning Fire/ Exhilaration Stud) being given a judicious ride by apprentice Munna Alam to peg back the likes of fancied trio – Hayata, Petaloid and Richest Treasure. They will all have to be content with their oats money that they have been gathering all season.