The X’mas week of racing which commenced on Friday, and will end on Wednesday with the Boxing Day races, proved to be beneficial for punters as quite a few front-line favourites obliged. The trainers at the helm of affairs were Vikash Jaiswal (with a treble) and Arti Doctor and Vijay Singh with a brace each.

Trainer Vikash Jaiswal and his trusted knight PS Chouhan combined fruitfully to pull off a well-planned treble at the RCTC on Friday. Jaiswal’s 10/1 shot Multiglory(Multidimensional-Reflected Glory) produced a thunderous gallop in the straight to sail past front-running Commodore and lift the Maharajadhiraja Uday Chand Mahtab of Burdwan Memorial Cup quite easily. The public choice Pothus was a faraway second. Earlier, Chouhan had guided home the well-backed Jaiswal double – Fireburg and Whitewalker – both three-year-olds. Fireburg (Express Wish-Radical Attraction) won the opener of the day quite easily, though it must be mentioned that Shanayaa’s Pet was not ridden in the best possible way. She was a little too far back in a 1100m race. As for Whitewalker (Stern Opinion-Sylvia Says), he proved a little too speedy for his rivals in the lower division of the Pentire Handicap as he took the shortest route home and made every post a winning one.. 

Jockey Christopher Alford  notched up a welcome win after a  run of several poor days. He piloted Arti Doctor-trained Sabrejet (Air Support-Siachen) to a pillar-to-post triumph in the 2000m race for the Stringfellows Handicap. Avarua tried her best to bridge the gap but fell short as Alford had that little something extra in hand just when it seemed that Avarua may overhaul the front-runner. Arti Doctor’s other winner was Pelion (Tazahum – Alandra) in the last race of the day who produced an encore in similar fashion to his earlier victory. The colt followed the pacemaker till the straight before shooting ahead and keeping at bay Uncrowned King who posed a serious threat but found the youngster galloping smoothly.

Trainer Vijay Singh’s first winner of the day was He Calls The Shots (Multidimensional - Brushed Aside) who won the The Supreme Choice Handicap – a No Whips race. Jockey Nikhil Naidu is proving his worth at this centre’s leading stable. It was a difficult passage for the winner as there were quite a few runners ahead of him. But Naidu managed to forge a passage down the middle and get the better of Bidstone Hill. The Vijay-Naidu combo completed their double with the two-year-old filly Angel Grace (Speaking Of Which – Serrafina) who bagged the Aspirant Plate without much ado. The one for the notebook is stablemate Ruby Cube.

Suspended trainer Patrick Quinn’s recent import Stallone (Express Wish – La Chicaluna) ran under the care of Shyam Habbu and delivered the goods in the upper division of The Pentire Handicap, after some smart money came on him. The well-planned coup must have given ‘RCTC’s bête noire’ something to smile about during tough times. Jockey Shezad Khan rode a calm and collected race on the top-weight, who picked up a late gallop after Tangalooma and Buddyholly looked dangerous near the distance post. The duo were involved in a rare dead-heat for the minor placings.  In such cases, instead of carrying-over the ‘third horse pool’, it may be more logical to add it to the SHP pool and then calculate the SHP dividends on the two horses which dead-heated for the runner-up berth.

Trainer Daniel David’s Hurricane Storm (Hurricane Center-Paddy’s Dasher) won the lower division of the King’s Academy Handicap after a brief tussle for supremacy with Glamorous Glory and Ascend. It was jockey R Darshan’s first winner at this centre. We can expect to see a few more winners from this forceful finisher.