Friendless Copernicus, from Javed Khan’s yard, sent shockwaves at RCTC on Wednesday when he galloped resolutely in the home stretch to make the Shri Charan Memorial Cup his own in great style. The seven-year-old beat back the challenge of a younger set of rivals without much ado. Fancied runners Captain Cook, Taygetus and Setaflame ran miserably and failed to finish in the money. The minor berths were occupied by Cadman and Shourisha.  Jockey Akash Rajput had the property of Chiranjit Basu racing a handy fourth while Sporting Trainer called the shots. After the home turn, Copernicus (Mathemetician-Heroine’s Beauty/ Sans Craintes Stud) responded brilliantly to his rider’s call and made it a one-horse race. Cadman is known to prefer a longer trip and will be better for this run.

Trainers Vikash Jaiswal and James McKeown notched up a double each on a difficult day as did jockeys Hindu Singh and Akash Rajput. Visiting saddle artists Dashrath Singh and Trevor Patel drew a blank as did local star C. Alford. Another visiting jockey Neeraj Rawal gave his supporters something to cheer about when he bagged the opener of the day astride Daniel David-trained and owned Adamantium (Stern Opinion-Alexander Newstalk/ Pratap) who is known to be a moody type. Neeraj’s strong handling made the difference.

The gamble of the day was in the Brush Aside Handicap. Vikash Jaiswal’s One Man Army (Noverre-Ashika/ Sohna Stud) was backed down to 12/10 and the five-year-old produced an encore in the hands of rookie apprentice P. Vikram who thus opened his account. Claymore was a fairly decent runner-up and this once highly rated horse will be better after this outing.

James Mckeown’s Mizuno (Noverre-Sama/ Sohna Stud) was the first winner to send punters into a tizzy when he pocketed The Replicate Handicap. It was jockey Hindu Singh’s first of two winners. By placing his ward over sprints, McKeown is getting a far better result than when he was running over longer trips. While much fancied Rachmaninoff gave railbirds a run for their money to finish third, the favourite Be A Star was pathetic and failed to accelerate in the straight, to end up in the ruck.

Jockey Hindu Singh rode a powerful finish astride Manvendra Singh-trained Interstellar (Top Class-Eternal Spirit/ Mukteshwar Stud) to get the better of the big-hearted Bang Bang in the straight. The less said about the other runners, the better. Hindu had his mount covered up till heads turned for home and then chose the rails run which paid rich dividends.

McKeown’s second winner was the sprinter Monaco (Stern Opinion-Second Look/ Pratap) who made every post a winning one in The Anticipator Plate. The second favourite Top Gun is a big made chestnut who was squeezed out at the start, first by Danceress who jumped awkwardly and subsequently by Hail The Queen. He dropped out to be last in the back stretch before taking the longest route in the straight to finish second under Trevor’s whip. The youngster would have undoubtedly fared better with a better exit from the gates.

The curtain came down to the day’s proceedings with the Jaiswal brothers bringing home the bacon with Uptown Girl (Stardan – Here She Comes/ Rolli Stud) in thunderous fashion. The five-year-old mare got the better of second favourite Forest Dunes in the straight while the piping hot public choice Stellanova finished in the ruck. Jaiswal’s other runner Jabble set the pace but faded out after the distance post. The shrewd schooler continues to baffle racegoers with his multiple entries which is ofcourse an accepted modus opernadi in thoroughbred racing.