Saturday afternoon belonged to Richard and Christopher Alford as they shared seven races between them in an eight-event card. Jockey Aashad Asbar guided home all three Richard Alford winners and added one more to his tally when he rode an absolute blinder astride Bharath Singh-trained Noverro who lifted the Mayor’s Cup. Leading saddle artist Christopher Alford went about his business as usual and pocketed four winners including the 5/1 shot Regal. The other point of note during the day was the performance of the stallion Noverre whose progeny excelled.

After the mishaps of the previous day, the stipes are coming down heavily on careless and dangerous riding. Ranidan Singh on Gentle Knowledge (in The Mayor’s Cup) was fined Rs 5,000/- while Vinay Jaiswal atop Sparkishly (in the Obligado Handicap) was fined Rs 2,500/-.

Veteran trainer Richard Alford thus vindicated his viewpoint after the previous raceday, riddled with mishaps. “There’s always a risk when a horse changes legs and that is what happened in the case of Amazing Legend,” said the ace rider of yesteryear. “On seeing Leopard Creek narrowing the gap, the jockey used the whip a couple of times in his left hand. This resulted in the youngster changing his leading leg after the distance post and dislocating his shoulder.” He added, “ I cannot fault the track in any way”.

The Mayor’s Cup saw speedster King Kong set a good pace and lead till the distance post where he was challenged by the Bharath Singh pair of Silver Streak and Noverro (Noverre-Erina/ Sohna Stud). The latter was moving the better of the two, encouraged by his light impost. Confidence was once again in the money and needs to be followed.

The morning showed the day for Richard as his first winner of the afternoon was Comedian (Chinese Whisper – Princess Ruby/ Tohana Stud) who was ridden in copybook manner by his knight of pigskin Asbar. Lying a handy fourth while The Dark Lord called the shots in the curtain-raiser, the successful middle-distance runner moved up smoothly in the straight to sail past the struggling Brutus and the fading pace-setter.

In the very next race, The Obligado Handicap (a no whip event) Asbar went hands and heels on aged Alicante (Senure – Red Alert/ Manjri Stud) to pip Breach Candy at the wire. The disappointment in the race was the favourite Cayman Islands.

Asbar probably face his stiffest task atop Murlough Bay (Mull Of Kintyre – Khatinza/Sohna Stud) who was ridden in forward fashion on this occasion in The Captain HD Fownes Memorial Cup. However, the filly had to stave off a strong challenge from Heirloom on whom Shailesh Shinde was going hell or leather in the final furlong. At the wire it was touch and go with a ‘nose’ separating the pair.

The Christopher Alford winning quartet comprised the Vijay Singh-trained pair of Apercus and Regal, to which he added Forest Hills from James McKeown’s yard and Daniel David-trained The Talisman.

In the lower division of the Silver Handicap, Forest Hills (Noverre-Almanzora Bay/ Sohna Stud) was ridden cleverly by Alford to win as he liked. The rider showed his penchant for the rails and the colt romped home a clear winner after collaring Footloose in the straight.

Both Apercus (Chevalier-Arnatta/ Ruia Stud) and Regal ( Mull Of Kintyre-Terre Blance / Sohna Stud) were ridden in a start-to finish manner to bag their respective races. The former won the Adelina Plate while getting the better of second favourite Dixie Diamond quite easily. Le Havre was the piping hot choice in The King Wajid Ali Shah Of Oudh Cup but he had no answer to the speed of Regal.

Alford brought the curtain down with a resounding victory astride The Talisman (Noverre-Debinnair/ Sohna Stud). After the facile victory of Regal (who had beaten The Talisman in a close finish last time), the latter was backed with a degree of certainty by punters and closed on-money. He justified the optimism by thrashing his closest rival Xperience.