Jockey Christopher Alford rode a clever race astride top-weight Anbiorn (Multidimensional-Al Dente/ Usha Stud) to lift the Oakmead Cup for the Vijay Singh sable without any jitters. As he is wont to do, Alford chose the rails while No Politics Please set a cracking pace, and then sailed past the pacemaker in the straight to win quite comfortably at the wire. The disappointment in the race was the 5/1 second favourite Sage Valley who failed to match strides with the front-runner and retired at the bend from the fray.

There were quite a few surprises during the afternoon and trainer Shafiq Khan was responsible for two of these. He notched up a high-priced double for his patron Rustom Daroga with Hurricane Andrew and Pinball Wizard. The former, a six-year-old chestnut by Hurricane State out of Greenlawn (Hargobind Stud) made the Cap-A-Pie Handicap a start-to-finish sprint in hands of whip-less apprentice Ranidan Singh. The lad shot out of the gates and never looked back. His mount did the rest. In fact, Trevor Patel, astride the hot favourite Drummer’s Qualms appeared to have the measure of him about 100 metres from home but the ‘Hurricane’ hung on by the skin of his teeth. To be a successful apprentice, focus and concentration are more important than fancy saddle artistry and Ranidan showed he had those qualities. However, the same cannot be said for apprentice Jorawar Singh atop much-fancied Impression who was caught in two minds at the home turn, whether to take the rails or not, before losing control of his mount and riding a pathetic race.  In his defence, it may be said that Impression is a difficult ride and he made matters worse for himself. Had he not opted for the rails initially, he would have fared better.

Shafiq Khan brought the curtain down with another 10/1 shot Pinball Wizard (Oath-Naughty Romance/ Pratap Stud) as experienced apprentice Zarar Alam displayed considerable derring-do  to maintain his slot along the rails from an inside draw before going hell for leather in  the straight and collaring the runaway Astatki. At one stage, it seemed as if the front-runners may close the all-important gap along the rails but Alam elbowed his way in a tightly packed field and that piece of dare-devilry ensured that he saw daylight in the straight. Top-weight Vijay Monarch ran on to occupy the runner-up berth and may have found the trip too sharp.

Trevor Patel too notched up a brace after narrowly failing atop Drummer’s Qualms. He first guided home Midnight Magic (7/1) to a difficult win in the Fitzgrafton Plate before romping home astride Royal Brute in the Star Of Italy Handicap. Both runners hail from the stable of Manvendra Singh.

Midnight Magic (Gaswar-Minnie Mouse/ Lingwood Stud) was involved in a three-way contest with the favourite Sthenios and Inspirago but prevailed thanks to Trevor’s forceful finishing power. Super Striker was a total flop in this race. Royal Brute (Oath-Trillenium/ Pratap Stud) virtually repeated his facile win in the lower class as he moved with raking strides from mid-division to sail past Native Speaker. Aged Sartaj ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

Trevor’s handling of joint favourite Lancer’s Dream left much to be desired as the horse was slow into his stride, then taken ten wide and yet finished a decent third in the First Flier Handicap. One can draw one’s own conclusions from the handling of his mount. Kamlesh, on the other hand, rode a copybook race atop Lanner Falcon (Chevalier – Complimentary/ Ruia Stud) as he lay a handy second behind pacemaker Jassi’s Star before drawing away in the straight to hand trainer Arti Doctor her sole win of the day.