A heavy downpour an hour before the first race, delayed the proceedings by half an hour. The murky weather and wet track failed to deter crack Delhi rider Dhanu Singh Deora. He opened his monsoon account with a well-crafted treble while astride Constance, Shimmering Star and Perpetual Winning.  The other pair of professionals who shared the limelight were Vijay Singh and his trusted rider Nikhil Naidu. Their pair of winners were Asmita and After Shock. Yet another pro who led in two winners was trainer Javed Khan.

The day’s feature event, The Marinsky Cup, saw HS Bath’s filly Marbella (Declaration of War-Isfahaan) being cleverly piloted by Shezad Khan to land the spoils in the race run over seven furlongs. The winner was one of three horses that found backers in the ring – the other two being Fancourt and Fire Opal. The last named closed as the totalisator favourite and ran a forward race, which must have raised the hopes of her connections.  However, as Fire Opal was about to take charge after the turning for home, Shezad exploited a gap along the rails in spectacular style to fetch home the bacon. Till date, Marbella had been running forward races and this change of tactic seemed to suit her to the hilt. Unless her blood vessel gives way, she has more races in store for her.

Th day’s opener saw Deora open his account with a blistering ride atop Constance (Admiral Of The Fleet-Constantina) from Shafiq Khan’s yard. Though Sicario was better placed at weights, it was Deora’s final punch in the final furlong that did the trick. Both these runners were following tote favourite and pacemaker Princess Rumela till well into the straight. Thereafter, it was Constance who moved the better and pulled it off.

Deora’s next win was in the Predator Handicap where he took Arti Doctor-trained Shimmering Star (Strong Suit-Shining Glory) to the helm of affairs as the gates opened. Though the favourite Marigold tried her best, she was outpaced by the winner. The disappointment in the field was recent winner Shanayaa’s Pet. Fite of Honour lost all his chances at the bend a he drifted out. Deora completed his treble with a regulation ride atop Javed Khan-trained Perpetual Winning (Net Whizz-Perpetual Glory)  in the Gloriosa Handicap. Arjuna was an eye-catching runner-up and needs to be followed.

The Bello Rock Handicap went Malana’s way after apprentice P Vikram rode her out vigorously to sail past speedy Next Star in the straight. The mare by Western Aristocrat out of Understood was the first of Javed Khan’s two winners of the day. Summerhil was seen to finish on and will be worth keeping an eye on over a longer trip.

The Vijay-Naidu combo opened their account with the speedster Asmita (Speaking of Which-Veena’s Star). The filly was a handy second behind Swanlite till the top of the straight where she changed gears for a fluent win. Tia Queen made a bold bid to catch the winner but she was travelling too well. The curtain came down with the heavily backed After Shock (Arazan-Guy Grand’s Gal) literally winning by the skin of his teeth after a close duel with Bacaardi. The colt didn’t seem to care much for the going or the whip as he threw up head inside the distance. However, his victory sent punters back home in a happy frame of mind after a difficult day.