Those who were waiting for a scintillating performance from the star performer of last year – Multitude, may have been a shade disappointed with the three-year-old colt’s display as he was stretched to get the better of Scuderia in the race for the Raj Coomar Gujadhur Memorial Cup. However, the Vijay Singh-trained runner still has a month to peak before the 2000 Guineas and the Multidimensional colt out of Haedi (Usha Stud) could well be a different proposition at that point of time.

Trainer Vijay Singh notched up a favourite-foursome to put himself in the driver’s seat early in the season. His quadruple comprised Warsaw Ace, Romantic Magic, Multitude and Mr Gorgeous – all piloted by different riders. Veteran ace Christopher Alford had to bring all his experience into play astride the colt Mr Gorgeous (Mr Mellon- Drop Dead Gorgeous/ Ruia Stud) to get the better of stablemate Acrider close home. He put away his whip and rode him out hands-and-heels in the final furlong to land the Hilliard Cup. The rest of the runners were never really in the seven-furlong race.

The filly who impressed all and sundry was Bharath Singh-trained Suzanna in the day’s final event. The triple addition to her equipment comprising tongue strap, cross-nose band and pacifier blinkers appeared to have worked wonders for the filly as forceful jockey Dashrath Singh gave her the taste of winning a ‘waiting race’ for the first time in her career. It was in fact a  trial run for the 1000 Guineas barely two weeks from now. The filly is blessed with an abundance of speed and if that can be held in store for a late burst, then the winner of the Alokananda Stakes will obviously be a force to reckon with in the Guineas. Sired by the already established stallion Win Legend (standing at Dashmesh), Suzanna is out of the mare Just Amazing who has in the past produced the mile winner of the Maharaja’s Gold Cup  at Mysore.

Trainer Bharath Singh’s first winner was another filly - Spyglass Hill, in the lowest category. The Multidimensional-Ave Maria (Usha Stud) filly took a level jump on this occasion and  Zervan did well to keep her going in the straight when challenged by Lineage and the course favourite Another Glory. The last named is now ready to strike. The winner was largely neglected in the ring as her earlier form has been somewhat erratic. 

The other runner at long odds to win was Vikash Jaiswal’s Impression (Lucifer Sam- Magical Night/ Sans Craintes Stud) who had an outing on the first day. The top-weight released a rousing gallop in the closing stages of the 1100 metres race for the Cascades Handicap which appeared to be under the favourite Juliana’s control from the word go. Jockey Vinay Jaiswal knew what he was doing when he allowed his mount to drift out under pressure. The two recent western India imports to join the Vijay Singh stable – Juliana and Jupiter – were not eligible for the scale-drop (rightly so) and both finished runner-up on this occasion.

Warsaw Ace (Ace-Warsaw Pact/ Exhilaration Stud) opened his account at the age of four with a mile race. But not before the top-weight City Heights had made sure he earned it. In this race, Kinloch (Nikhil up) cut sharply in from the jump-out and badly bumped Dark Angel who was in fact responsible for cutting across the favourite a moment earlier. So all in all a scrappy race in which apprentice Munna Alam maintained his cool and chose the shortest route home as the top-weight started to drift out in the straight.

Aided by scale-drop, Romantic Magic (Multidimensional-Magical Romance/ Usha Stud) was able to defy the handicapper’s penalty once again and complete a hat-trick of wins. Evera (earlier called Bay of Secrets) ran well below expectation and even failed to collar the runaway El Cid.