Bharath Singh trained Captain Cook lived up to his paddock looks as he steamrolled the opposition in the mile race for the RWITC Cup. The handsome looking four-year-old thus registered a long overdue win in the hands of Trevor Patel. As stablemate Noverro declined to set the pace, the classy gelding by Admiralofthefleet out of Polenia (Kunigal Stud) took it upon himself to make every post a winning one and leave his rivals floundering in the homestretch. A couple of cracks from Trevor’s whip increased the margin of victory. Rather interestingly, though the ‘Captain’ was the 9/4 second favourite in the books, he closed as the piping hot totalisator favourite.

Jockey Neeraj Rawal was in his element as he notched up a superb treble with Adi’s Delight (5/1), Jupiter (8/1) and Zena (4/1). In the season’s first race for two-year-olds, Javed Khan-trained Adi’s Delight (Lucifer Sam – Heroine’s Beauty/  Sans Craintes Stud) displayed a considerable amount of maturity to raise a gallop after a gentle tap by Rawal set him alight in the straight. At the wire, he spared half-a-length to the filly Tiberon who too ran a fine race and will be worth keeping an eye on. The favourite Milford Sound ran a fair race and should be worth following.

In the earlier days, The Bengal Area Cup used to be run over a middle distance of  a mile-and-quarter. Though steeped in tradition, the race has been virtually reduced to s sprint. The seven-furlong event saw bottom-weight Blue Zone installed as the favourite but the six-year-old mare, a recent import from Mysore,  lacked the class. Despite Trevor’s  best efforts, she ended up an unimpressive fifth. Vijay Singh-trained Jupiter (Stern Choice-Rah Wa)  was taken to the helm of affairs by Rawal ,despite the top-weight, and he did not disappoint as he stayed there all the way.  Bath-trained Zena completed a hat-trick for Rawal as the filly by Rebuttal out of Mellow Jazz (Hazara Stud) made every post of the upper division of The Fame Star Handicap a winning one.

The Rising Bell Handicap set the trend for the day as Deepak Karki-trained Footloose (European-Sacred Dreams/) showed that the lowest class is easy meat for him. Apprentice Munna Alam rode a well-judged race. The Vikash Jaiswal stable’s gambit with the public choice Change The Game fell apart. For once, the shrewd trainer may have made a slight error in his judgement. The 13-horse field was cram-jammed and the trip was a little too sharp for the three-year-old filly. She finished an impressive runner-up, full of running.

Champion jockey Christopher Alford is invariably in the thick of things when on his home turf, and Friday was no exception. He pocketed a high-priced double with Romantic Society and Taygetus. The former, a Vijay Singh runner, had been knocking during the monsoon meet but never quite made it. Credit must be given to the rider who rode the four-year-old filly by China Visit out of  Society Dream  (Usha Stud) for eventual speed and got the better of the favourite Queen’s Command in the straight.

Another classy piece of horsemanship atop Taygetus (Arabian Gulf-Sail By Roos/  Manjri Stud) fetched Alford his double. He positioned the Arti Doctor-trained youngster cleverly along the rails while Red Bug called the shots. Once into the straight, Alford opted for the rails as he is wont to do. Thereafter, it was all over bar the shouting. His huge margin of victory attracted the handicapper’s attention and he was slapped with the day’s biggest penalty of 7.5kg.

The curtain came down with the Rutherford Alford  stable pulling off a huge gamble with top-weight Amazing Maria (Gaswar-Xiamen/ Lingwood Stud) in the hands of Arman Khan. The filly displayed remarkable guts to come out on to top in a blanket finish involving Another Glory and Ambries. Rather amazingly, she had her nose ahead at the wire. The other two runners were both impressive in defeat.

Card betting catches on at RCTC:  RCTC’s innovative idea to introduce credit and debit card betting has become pretty popular with punters. At Friday’s local races, the turnover was almost five times as much as on the opening day’s inter-venue Mysore meet. However, more machines have not yet been provided by the bankers. In the current monetary crisis post demonetisation, punters in the members stand are eagerly awaiting the installation of a card-swiping machine in their stand.