Western Indian challenger Governor General from MK Jadhav’s yard lifted the prestigious Mayfowl Cup at RCTC on Friday after staving off a strong challenge from the consistent Multitude. The favourite Castlebridge seems to have totally lost his sparkle of old and needs time to get back into the groove. He failed to collar the front-running Amorous White and eventually ended up an ignominious last. Sandesh kept the outstation challenger in a handy fourth position before making his move in the straight and drawing away. Multitude moved with raking strides from the distance post but failed to make up the leeway as he was conceding 8kg to the winner. Whether a more powerful rider like John or Srinath could have reversed the verdict is purely hypothetical. The fact of the matter remains that the local opposition was floored fair and square by the visitor from the west.

There’s a lesson to be learnt from this race for aspiring trainers. The vastly experienced  Jadhav’s brilliant assessment of the local opposition must be appreciated. It is very important to weigh the opposition before targeting any major race. What was really amazing was the fact that Governor General (Phoenix Tower-Dancing Highness) had never won a sweepstakes race prior to this. He was purely a handicap horse who had climbed his way to the top at the relatively late age of six. To take on seasoned winners of ‘terms’ races and give them a bating that they won’t forget easily requires excellent assessment by the trainer and connections. Kudos to them!

Trainer Vijay Singh completed a well-deserved treble during the day with Shivansh, Sniper and rank outsider Smith And Wesson – all running in the green-and-gold colours of Mr Subir Dasgupta and his co-owners. The first named Shivansh (Top Class-Immortal Story) won the mile race for The Star Flame Handicap without much ado and seems to be the stable’s number one contender for the Calcutta Derby in January. The Cavalry Cup went Sniper’s way after a brief period of hesitation near the distance post when four horses were in a line. Thereafter, the son of Kingda Ka out of Zellers collared front-running Sheer Force without too much trouble. Neglected by all and sundry, Smith And Wesson  (Abbeydale-Bold Reply) won the most difficult race of the afternoon , thanks to a neat and clever piece of horsemanship by Nikhil Naidu. Despite a large field of 14 runners, Naidu managed to take the shortest route home and get the better of seven-year-old Bengal Tiger. The less said about the three-year-olds in the field, the better.

The afternoon commenced with the ‘thriller of the day’ as Jasbir Singh’s Poras (Rebuttal-Anacita) moved from the rear of the field to get the better of Duchamp by the proverbial whisker at the wire in the very last stride. Solaris is one for the notebook. Bharath Singh-trained Oak Brook (Net Whizz-Oakdale) returned to winning ways to  bag the upper division of the Citibank Handicap in style. Speed Force is the one for the notebook here. James Mckeown’s Viareggio (Excellent Art-Celtic Manor) was ridden with great understanding by Hindu Singh to land the spoils in the lower division of the same event. Permitting Eastern Flame a long lead, Hindu coaxed a rousing gallop out of the filly in the straight to win comfortably in the end. Mckeown and Hindu completed a brace in the very next race when unfancied Mahasuvi (Western Aristocrat-Bluegrass Phenom) got the better of the favourite Bergamot at the all important end.