It was a Tuesday afternoon that local railbirds would like to wipe off their memory as early as possible. The debacle of four consecutive favourites between the third and sixth races left punters high and dry. The day’s feature – The Arktouros Cup – saw Javed Khan-trained Brahmachari installed as the 5/2 public choice. Though the top-weight ran a good race, it was his eight-year-old stablemate Copernicus (Mathemetician-Heroine’s Beauty) who stole the thunder with a fluent gallop in the final furlong. Jockey Ranidan Singh deserves a pat on the back for notching up his second win in as many outings with this neglected ‘old warhorse’ owned by Mr Chiranjit Basu.  Earlier, Ranidan had guided Sarfaraz Khan’s Cocoanut (Sussex-Coco Beach) to a difficult win in the Assertive Handicap. With both Shy Belle and favourite Pollyana trying to hoist the winning flag, Ranidan did well to persevere with his mount despite drifting out.

The talking point of the day was however the ignominious defeat of Lancaster . He finished a poor fourth as the heavily gambled Jordana did all the running before succumbing to friendless Big Star (Western Aristocrat-Knockenduff) with apprentice Rupal Singh in the saddle from Raunak Banerji’s yard. After losing out on Jordana, the Jaiswal stable tried their luck on Denny Crane in the Arktouros Cup though he had no form to go by. Having a gamble on a horse without exposing any form on the track is always a risky affair and on this occasion, it fizzled out.

In the opening race, there was a gamble on Eastern Flame who had finished seventh and eleventh in her only two outings this season. Those in the know were bold enough to take a chance on her. She ran a good race but lost out to Diamond Harbour  (Lord Admiral-Zvonareave) whose odds expanded to 4/1 from 18/10 because of the gamble on the filly. Champion jockey Nikhil Naidu made no mistake on the Vijay Singh-trained winner who followed Shanayaa’s Pet till the straight before taking over the running and holding on to his advantage under the stick.

Trainer Vijay Singh’s Arjuna (Pleasantly Perfect-Disarming) made every post of the Steal The Glory Plate a winning one with Expensive Affair a hard-fought second. The victorious colt seems a good sort who may have more  races in store during the winter meeting.  The Marinsky Handicap saw the afternoon’s biggest upset in the form of Rutherford Alford-trained Houtzen. Ridden by apprentice Tejeshwar, the three-year-old filly by Dean’s Kitten out of Ruby Queen sailed past top-weight Uncrowned King and then staved off a challenge from Modification. It was a ‘No Whip’ race and Uncrowned King is one for the notebook.

The curtain came down with Harvinder Singh Bath’s Fiorelle (Sedgefield-Alsaabeqa) coming good after playing bride’s maid on three occasions prior to this. The chestnut filly lapped up the 2000m trip and apprentice RS Bhati did the rest. Recent winner Smith And Wesson failed to meet the class while I Told You Know has yet to show the sparkle that he is known to possess when at his peak.