Jockey Christopher Alford faced no problems at all as he guided Vijay Singh-trained Mr Gorgeous to a gorgeous triumph over his closest rival Silver Streak in the last Class I race of the season – The Elusive Pimpernel Cup. Permitting the grey to call the shots till the distance post Alford rode out his mount hands and heels with a single reminder near the distance post. Aged warhorse No More Politics was edged out by Copernicus for the third spot.

The champion trainer and his apprentice Munna Alam recorded a great double with the well supported Apercus and the somewhat neglected Lombardo. While Apercus (Chevalier-Arnatta/ Ruia Stud) was an effortless winner at every post of The Turf Hawk Plate (Div II), Lombardo (Ace-Lombardia/ Exhilaration Stud) won the mile race for The Sunrise Song Handicap in style. Allowing Amazing Maria to call the shots till the straight, Lombardo shot ahead and staved off a fairly decent challenge from top-weight Heirloom. With only a single none too impressive sprint before this run, it was not surprising that he was neglected in the ring. But the five-year-old indeed surprised everyone. The three wins of the Vijay Singh stable was spiced with a dash of nostalgia as all the victories were earned in the famed red-and-gold Khaitan colours.

The penultimate afternoon of racing commenced in dry heat with Bharath Singh-trained Forest Dunes bagging the Star Team Handicap in the hands of Dashrath Singh. After repeated failures, the chestnut filly by Alnasr Alwasheek out of Vale Of Leven (Poona Stud) won as she liked with the favourite Clairvoyance running a disappointing second.

The Pentire Handicap saw a huge gamble on Ramasses (Tariq-Najah/ Equus Stud) come good – but not before some heart-stopping moments for the connections. It seemed in the straight that Signor Sassi and Nikhil may pull it off, but a determined effort by Shrikant Kamble saw the Sabeel Shariff ward first go for the rails before going on the outside of the ‘Signor’ to land the spoils close home.

The upper division of The Turf Hawk Plate witnessed Javed Khan-trained Oath Of Allegiance put in a spirited run in the straight to overpower Empowered and the piping hot on-money public choice Dysnomia who was conceding weight all round after a whopping 8kg penalty for his last runaway victory. Empowered tried to make every post a winning one but as is her wont, she came unstuck near the distance post. The winner by Oath out of Berkeley Lodge (Pratap Stud)  was piloted by Imran Chisty in his inimitable style.

The final race of the day saw yet another smart gamble come good with Cool Conqueror (Kingda Ka-Amount/ Nanoli Stud) from Jasbir Singh’s yard. It was the schooler’s second win of the season with the same runner. Jockey Ashhad Asbar had to pull out all stops with a furlong to spare and squeezed through between the rails and the front-running Mizuno. Top Cat came on with a second wind to edge out the front-runner for the runner-up berth.

The seven-furlong sprint for the Pretty Woman Cup  with 13 runners (after the withdrawal of Le Havre) was always an open affair. Suzanna was the 18/10 favourite and though the filly finished a fair fourth though she was never really in the race with a chance. In fact, Dashrath astride her, was struggling to hold position from near the half-way mark. The reason may have been because there were speedier front-runners than her who were receiving weight from her. Beyond Expectation came with a thundering run in the straight, but as he has often done in the past, he came to a standstill the moment he saw daylight and both Bengal Tiger and the eventual winner Winning Fortune passed him. Bath-trained Winning Fortune (Oath – Moneypenny/  Pratap Stud) has lived up to her name in every way by winning her fifth successive race. Neeraj Rawal thus earned his only winner of the afternoon.