A smart piece of horsemanship by YS Srinath saw Bharath Singh-trained Eastern Star (Knight’s Tour-Lyocel) get the better of the favourite Punjabi Girl in the seven furlong sprint for The Bahrain Cup at RCTC on Sunday. Considering that the filly was in receipt of 5kg from the winner, it was a poor show from her and in all fairness, the half-length verdict flatters her.  Srinath had already eased up his mount about 30 metres from home. He rode a well-planned race from the word ‘go’. Once the pacemakers began to tire at the bend, Srinath cleverly slipped his mount through along the rails (after lying a handy fifth for most part) and drew away from the field. In contrast, Punjabi Girl was forced the take the turn six wide and Sandesh had the stick out from well before the distance post. However, despite this somewhat unimpressive effort from the 1000 Guineas candidate, one would have to keep in mind that it was her first outing on an alien soil and she definitely has the potential to improve. It’s quite possible that she may enjoy running freely up front as Sweeney asked her to in the Alcock Arabian Million. But then I suppose the trainer knows best in these matters.

Trainer Vijay Singh’s fashionably bred filly Advika (Multidimensional-Set Ablaze/ Usha Stud) ran a great race to edge out the half-money public choice Adjudicate at the wire in the seven furlong sprint for the Allodium Handicap. Both fillies are by the highly successful sire Multidimensional and are likely to take part in the 1000 Guineas, making the first classic of the season a hotly contested one this year.

The third race of the afternoon, The Real Danger Handicap, lived up to its name with what seemed like a clip from a John Wayne movie. Jugnu Gurung’s ‘charge of the light brigade’ astride Born To Win resulted in both Dashrath Singh (atop second favourite Bojangles) and Gurung himself ending up on the track. It could have been far worse had the other riders not been alert to Gurung’s rodeo run. It seems he lost his left stirrup iron and with it, also total control of his mount. Fortunately Dashrath escaped unhurt while Gurung had to be hospitalised. He may have suffered a hairline fracture. Wishing him a speedy recovery. The race was won from end to end by PS Chouhan atop Vikash Jaiswal’s Stunner (Varenar – Monopoly).

Several outsiders filled the winner’s berth during the opening day.  The favourite Marigold in the opener was totally outpaced by the seven-year-old front-runner I Me N Myself and finished dead lat. The latter, a Vikash Jaiswal-trained mare by Noverre out of Sexy Gal made every post a winning one in the hands of apprentice Sujit Kumar Paswan. In the very next race, The Romantic Liaison Handicap, Sandesh rode his only winner of the day while astride Javed Khan-trained Tomorrow Forever (Lucifer Sam – Loveatfirstsight). The victory saw Sandesh at his best as he made room for his mount down the middle of the track through quite a bit of traffic.

The win of Bath-trained Demonstrate in the Star Contender Handicap saw all and sundry get a beating – except the bookmakers of course. The trio of three-year-olds in the betting – Kantai, Aggression and Stelvio Pass – looked hopelessly outpaced, It seems that most of the youngsters in the fray were short of work and fitness. This does not take away anything from the grand effort of apprentice Bhati atop the Sedgefield – Dixie Dahlin gelding.

The curtain came down with somewhat of an anticlimax. What seemed the most difficult race for form workers to crack, actually turned out to be the easiest for those in the know.  Jasbir Singh’s Artiste Royal (Tariq-Absolutely Royal)  was backed down to favouritism and led by a street to win as he liked, as the other dozen runners gleefully watched the solo effort of jockey Afzal Khan.