It was yet another afternoon at RCTC which was dominated by leading trainer Vijay Singh. He pocketed three of the six races with Dandi Satyagraha, Tudor Hall and Silver Bracelet. The wide gulf between his wards and that of the opposition was highlighted by the fact that the winning verdicts of the three horses added up to a little over 15 lengths!

His Silver Bracelet (Win Legend-Silver Profile) was given a flawless ride by Hindu Singh to bag the mile-and-half race for the Adelita Handicap effortlessly. The jockey thus made amends for the sub-standard handling of his mount in the Oaks on New Year’s Day. Five-year-old Rosina can no longer revive the form that fetched her the Oaks last year. She has been perennially plagued by the ‘kissing spine’ syndrome and this may have something to do with her dip in form. She did manage to grab the lead from Inca for a brief period but that is where her story ended. Once challenged by Silver Bracelet, she caved in tamely.

Recent import from western India – five-year-old mare Tudor Hall – was never off the bit while winning the mile race for the Exclusive Virtue Handicap. Lying last of five till heads turned for home, Tudor Hall simply swept past the modest opposition without raising a sweat. The daughter of Kingda Ka out of Enaksi completed a brace of wins for both jockey Sandesh and owner Vikram Bachhawat.  The pair had opened their success story for the day when the three-year-old colt Dandi Satyagraha (Chevalier – Salt) pocketed the Burning Fire Plate without even a semblance of a challenge from the meagre opposition.

The four-year-old which well and truly impressed all and sundry during the afternoon was Manvendra Singh-trained Estrella Star. The colt by El Johar out of Pure Distance lapped up the extra furlong to win the Icelandic Handicap as he liked. Lying in mid-division till the turning for home, jockey Neeraj Rawal exploited a gap along the rails to shoot his mount through and the colt responded magnificently. The best of the rest was Adornica who was compelled to take the longest route home due to the wall of horses in front of her midway up the straight. The rest of the 14-horse field failed to make an impression. 

One race earlier, trainer Christopher Alford hit pay dirt with the filly Treasure Hunt (Phoenix Tower-Little Treasure) who won the six-furlong sprint for the Long Tom Handicap after a brief tussle with recent winner Mystic Star who had the misfortune of bursting her blood vessels. Jockey Nikhil Naidu rode a clever race as he opted for the rails to pull off a fine victory.

The second race of the day, The Aeronative Handicap, saw apprentice Rupal Singh on Scarlet Witch (Tenth Star-Tasveer) get the better of Sandesh atop Stelvio Pass after locking horns with him down the straight. Rupal however made the error of using his stick in the left hand which saw his mount lugging in and rolling onto Sandesh’s mount in the closing stages of the race. Sandesh was forced to stop riding out his mount in the final fifty metres. Had there been an objection from the connections of Stelvio Pass, it could have been a close call in the Stewards Room. The lad must improve his use of the whip. He recently lost out with Shivalik Sight in The Army Cup – as a result of faulty use of the whalebone. The run of Huntsman in the Aeronative Handicap must be taken with a pinch of salt. The colt was never allowed to see daylight in the early part of the race, thanks to Sandesh’s shrewd placement of his mount.