Suleiman Attaollahi-trained Sans Peur, which is literally the French for “without fear”, lived up to her name and put in a grand display in the hands of Trevor Patel to get the better of both favourite Gold Bag and local ace Evesham in a blanket finish. The filly byAdmiralofthefleet out of Sans Pareil (Kunigal Stud) is a forward speedy sort who has the stamina to stretch to a mile if necessary. On Friday afternoon at RCTC, she sprinted from an outside draw to pocket the six-furlong sprint for The Nepal Gold Cup. Trevor had her racing in close attendance to pace-setting Zander till the top of the straight before stretching out beautifully to get the better of her two closest rivals who were moving well on either side of her. She displayed plenty of guts to delve into her reserve tank and pull off a marvellous triumph on her first outing at this centre.

Trevor Patel went on to complete a spectacular cup double when he piloted top-weight Valentino (Kingda Ka – Hazel Morgan/ Nanoli Stud) to a brilliant victory in the sprint for The Horenndro Kristo Dutt Memorial Cup . The Naredndra Lagad-trained sprinter was in mid-division till the top of the straight while Gimme Credit and Meet The Legend called the early shots in the five-and-half furlong race. Trevor pushed him a little to take up position at the top of the straight while the front-running duo were vying for command. Meet The Legend collared Gimme Credit and may have pulled it off had Trevor not timed his run to perfection.

The afternoon commenced with Arti Doctor-trained Adriatic Sea (Arabian Gulf-North Sea/ Manjri Stud ) carrying a bone-crushing impost to his maiden victory in the hands of Christopher Alford who had put in a considerable effort to prepare the horse himself for this moment.   Nursing his mount at the rear of the large field for most part of the mile-and-quarter trip, Alford smoothly brought him up to third position along the rails near the 600 marker. Zandra and Famoust Attack were the front-runners and the latter shifted out in the straight under pressure. Utilising the space created to good effect, Alford shot Adriatic Sea through the split and galloped resolutely for the winning post. The three-year-old felt the strain of the impost and was hanging out a shade near the distance marker.  A couple of cracks from Alford’s whip in the left hand before riding him out hands and heels did the trick. Apple was the best of the rest and the filly did rather well to finish a good second.

The second race of the day for two-year-olds – The Spats Colombo Plate – saw the first big outsider of the afternoon in the form of Fortune Express (Express Wish-Set The Mood/  Mebajeona Stud). The Manvendra Singh-trained colt was ridden to a facile start-to-finish victory by apprentice Hindu Singhwho was seen peeping over his shoulder in the final furlong. Fancied runners Jacobin and Shohin fought for the minor placings as Rufus occupied the runner-up berth.

The King’s Academy Handicap, run over the metric mile, saw Dashrath Singh ride a well judged race astride Bharath Singh-trained Storm Front (Burden Of Proof- Quiet Storm/ Kunigal Stud). In a field of 13 runners, Storm Front was positioned along the rails for most part while Artificial called the shots. The three-year-old made steady progress till the top of the straight and soon took over the running from Artificial. However, Dashrath seemed aware of the fact that the gelding has a tendency to slow down once he sees daylight and kept reminding him of the task ahead every 50 metres or so. That seemed to do the trick as he won fairly comfortably in the end from a totally unfancied Lhotsee who edged out Artificial for the runner-up berth.

The withdrawal of second favourite Blaze To Glory meant that the odds on the public choice Ophion shortened considerably in the seven-furlong race for The Amberetta Handicap. The chestnut colt is known to abhor the starting stalls and the sight of them makes him unruly. However, he was blindfolded and backed into stall number five with apprentice Munna Alam astride. The colt’s blindfold appeared to come off a split second after the gates opened and the apprentice did well to recover his balance quickly and take up position in mid-division along the rails while Pick Pocket  set a fast pace. Improving his mount gradually, Alam switched Ophion to the outside at the 400 marker and coaxed a sparkling gallop out of him near the distance post. The winner of the Calcutta Million shot ahead by about two lengths and appeared to be headed for a comfortable victory. Then the most unlikely happening occurred as Sandeep Rajput put Vikash Jaiswal-trained Celtic King (Noverre-Odabella/ Sohna Stud) into top gear and despite shouldering 61kg, the six-year-old snatched victory in the last stride. One cannot fault the apprentice for this debacle and it is just one of those things that makes thoroughbred racing a gloriously uncertain sport.

The curtain came down with speedster King’s Canyon (Jeremy-Radhwa) from V. Gaikwad’s yard making the Touch Of Silver Handicap a start-to-finish affair in Akshay’s hands.  In this race, local sprinter Mellow Fellow was deprived of a good start and graced the wrong end of the field for most part due to a packed field. His late charge along the rails fell short by a shade over two lengths. Had the colt been positioned early, he may well have turned the tables. But then, that’s racing, and one has to take the good with the bad!