Though punters took a drubbing on the third day of the monsoon meet, trainer Vijay Singh and his able knight of the pigskin Christopher Alford recorded highly lucrative trebles. For the latter, it was his second hat-trick of the season. While two of  Alford’s winners were from Vijay’s stable, his other winner Washington hailed from Arti Doctor’s yard. The Alford family tasted yet another piece of the day’s pie when uncle Richard led in Colourful Dreams (Diffident-Act Smart/ Yeravada Stud) to hand apprentice Tejeshwar the first win of his career.

The main event, The Poles Apart Cup, saw the on-money public choice Say You Say Me being backed to the exclusion of all others. However, experienced jockey PS Chouhan was in for a rude shock near the distance post as the Daniel David-trained dark bay filly failed to respond to his whip and looked uncomfortable. Jockey Christopher Alford on the other hand rode a gem of a race astride Vjay’s 5/1 shot Half Volley (Tariq-Tryst With Destiny/ Equus Stud). Alford took the colt to the helm of affairs as the gates opened and stayed there all the way,  though he was hard-pressed to hold on to his advantage by the skin of his teeth at the wire. Vikash Jaiswal’s Jorell made a strong bid  for honours in the straight and may have succeeded had not his apprentice jockey Akash Rajput lost his whalebone near the distance post. It was a touch-and-go affair at the all important end with Alford’s immense experience coming into play as he put away his whip and rode out the colt hands and heels to gain the day in great style.

Vijay and C.Alford combined to set the ball rolling with Star Route (Stardan-Adorila/ Rolli Stud) in the opener of the day. The favourite, Artegal from Gowli’s yard– who happened to be the owner-mate of the winner, was ridden flat out by apprentice Munna Alam but to no avail. Though such ploys do create a pernicious confusion in the minds of the punters, they have come to accept it as a part and parcel of this chancy sport known as thoroughbred racing. 

Alford’s next winner was Arti Doctor-trained Washington (Phoenix Tower – Star Shine/ Manjri Stud) who pocketed the Star Precision Plate effortlessly. Second favourite Sweet Stone turned extremely sour early in the race and exposed the woeful limitation of the lesser stables at this centre yet again. Though she had ample opportunity to take the lead after a good jump out, her rider appeared to be content to let the favourite take pole position while she dropped back rather conspicuously to an unproductive fifth slot in the back-stretch.  Thereafter, it became a one-horse race much to the delight of the local railbirds who were otherwise starved of favourites.

The local handicapper Probir Koner had a great day at office as the last three races produced edge-of-the-seat finishes. The Adriana Handicap saw unfancied Adzukis (Arazan-Arnatta) get the better of Flanker at the wire despite this being the winner’s first run of the season. Flanker produced an improved showing but it was not sufficient to hoist the winning flag. The favourite Winning Fortune was only a shadow of her winter self as she finished a tame third while Beyond Expectation was given a forward outing, possibly with another future race in  mind.

The final race of the afternoon saw as many as five horses finish within a length of each other. Surprise package Words (Ikhtyar-Wild Glory/ Nanoli Stud) from Sarfaraz Khan’s yard held on to his slender lead as Cronos and PS Chouhan made a bold bid for top honours, coming with a flourish on the wide outside. Apprentice Ranidan Singh thus partnered the six-year-old to his third win in four outings. Kudos to the lad!