What commenced as a mundane, mid-week monsoon fare, ended with a surprise or two as first Amanda’s Queen and then Bold As Brass brought home the bacon for their respective connections. The main event of the afternoon, The Supernova Cup, saw crack sprinter Evesham (Tariq-Everybody Counts/ Equus Stud) return to winning ways (after a couple of failures in winter). Permitting bottom-weight Wild Card to call the shots till the straight, Evesham and Shinde took over the running near the distance post and pulled away from the field despite drifting out to the outer rails. The odds on the favourite increased to 12/10 as there was some betting on Pick Pocket but the latter failed to make a mark.

The Super Sunrise Cup saw Farley Rodrigues schooled Mephistopheles close as the 18/10 public choice while stablemate Amanda’s Queen was available at 7/1 despite the latter being visiting jockey PS Chouhan’s sole ride of the day. It appears that local punters don’t get swayed so easily by big names in the saddle, but ironically they would have benefitted on this occasion had they been a trifle more gullible. While Mephistopheles was a pocketed fifth along the rails throughout the seven-furlong trip, Amanda’s Queen (Chevalier-Star Liner/ Ruia Stud) was a well-positioned second on the outside of pacemaker Bongani from the word go. Chouhan turned on the heat in the straight and the race was a s good as over. Apart from the public choice, another disappointment in the race was much fancied Flourishing Move who left all his chances at the gates and never got into the thick of things.

Shailesh Shinde completed his double atop Bharath Singh-trained Bold As Brass (Win Legend-Westlem Whisper/ Dashmesh Stud) who produced the most astounding gallop of the afternoon to get the better of heavily fancied Maharaana close home. The totalisator favourite Cool Hunter continued to disappoint and his poor run meant that Christopher Alford has yet to open his monsoon account.

Winter champion P. Kamlesh had no such problem as his first mount of the season (Sunset Sail) proved to be a winning one. The filly by Arabian Gulf out of Perilous Pursuit (Manjri Stud), from the stable of Arti Doctor, was the shortest priced favourite of the afternoon. In this race, Yerevan dropped his rider and ran riderless up  front, causing a bit of a hindrance for front-running Adanna. The favourite was a well-placed third before switching to the rails near the distance post and avoiding the riderless runner. At the wire, the winner of The Grand Annual Handicap last winter, appeared to be well within herself.

The afternoon commenced in a rather dull manner as the course favourite Alicante was withdrawn after playing up at the gates’  Thus, The Serrafina Handicap was reduced to four runners and Vikash Jaiswal’s My Commitment (Crown Jewels-Gracias Senorita/ Noble Studs) made no mistake as she made every post a winning one. Both Sreeputra and Chennai Express ran below expectations.

Richard Alford-trained Murlough Bay (Mull Of Kintyre-Khatinza/ Sohna Stud) was the three-year-old of the day as she burst out of the maiden ranks in great style to bag The Bold Display Handicap. Jockey Ashhad Asbar released the brakes in the straight after stablemate Colourful Dreams had done all the spadework and it was all over in a jiffy. The totalisator favourite Dark Angel was an utter disappointment as she failed to raise any kind of hope for her backers. She ended up dead last in a field of five.

The curtain came down amid popular cheer as Errol Bhungard-trained Isle Of Avalon ( Noverre- Isle Of Mull/ Sohna Stud) put paid to the pretensions of friendless runaway leader Glamorous Glory, who called it a day in the final furlong. The winning favourite in the race for The Cheryl Handicap was piloted by apprentice Zarar Alam. Thus ended a bit of a roller-coaster day for punters who nevertheless went home on a happy note.