The monsoon mid-week races at RCTC turned out to be a highly profitable afternoon for veteran trainer Bharath Singh as he notched up a lucrative treble with Shohin, Noverro and Sangfroid. While in-form jockey Neeraj Rawal piloted the first two named, Christopher Alford booted home Sangfroid at odds of 5/1

The main event, The AQ Qidwai Memorial Cup, saw Noverro (Noverre-Erina/ Sohna Stud) installed as the 11/4 favourite with Anastasio at 7/2 and Zander at 4/1. As expected, Anastasio was fastest out of the gates but failed to break away as he is wont to do, the reason being that Neeraja Rawal was equal to the task as he was in close attendance to the front-runner with Zander happy to sit back in a handy third position. After the turning for home , Rawal’s mount responded well to his urgings and collared Anastasio without much ado. Zander made his move late but found the favourite out of his reach.

Earlier, Neeraj had ridden three-year-old colt Shohin (Declaration Of War-Aptiana/ Lingwood Stud) to a smashing victory in the Stay In Shape Plate at odds of 6/1. Lying in the rear of the field till heads turned for home, Shohin  was put into top gear by Rawal thereafter and he responded magnificently to get the better of  Mocha Locha who had stolen a march in the straight. Both Shohin and Noverro ran in the same dark green silks of Joydeep Datta Gupta and his co-owners.

Bharath Singh completed his treble in the last race of the day when local lad Christopher Alford steered Sangfroid (Verenaar-Saangre Azul) to an easy triumph over stablemae and course favourite Ayra’s Pet. Alford thus completed his brace, having earlier piloted rookie trainer Aashay Doctor’s Shy Belle (Diffident-Striking Beauty/) to victory in the Star Precision Handicap over rivals Bacaardi and Tibidabo.

The Doctor family were very much in the limelight in the early part of the afternoon as well, as newcomer Aashay brought home the bacon with Simply Royale in the opener of the day. The four-year-old gelding by China Visit out of Only Royale (Usha Stud) won the seven-furlong race for the Aladancer Handicap quite easily in the hands of veteran H. Rathod.  The best of the rest was Desert Cat who was unfortunate to find a surprise package like Simply Royale putting it across him.

In the very next race, The Allaying Handicap, Arti Doctor-trained Artificial (Multidimensional-Altitude/ Usha Stud) romped home in the hands of apprentice RS Bhati. The favourite Aragon failed to make any impression whatsoever while another fancied runner Mariska was a shade better. Artificial simply tailed One Man Army till the straight before pulling away from the field.

While the afternoon was basically a Bharath Singh show, brother Vijay was not totally left out of the proceedings. His colt Jump And Run (Tariq-Equidae/ Equus Stud) outclassed the field in the race for the Picture Perfect Handicap. The favourite Flying Cloud was never in it. Shailesh Shinde rode a copybook race on the winner to land the spoils. He maintained the forward sprinter in a box seat before taking over the running in the straight.