A well-planned race by champion trainer Vijay Singh paid rich dividends at RCTC on Sunday as his neglected three-year-old colt Oasis, sporting the unforgettable colours of the late racing baron MAM, pulled off a miraculous victory in the Betindiaraces.com Monsoon Derby run over a mile-and-quarter. Jockey Akshay Kumar astride the winner had him racing dead last till the half-way mark while stablemate Galen set a cracking pace. He gradually improved his mount to be at par with the front-runners at the top of the straight. He took the turn four wide but a few cracks from his whalebone with the left hand did the trick as the son of David Livingston out of Paula’s Girl returned a four-length winner, ahead of runner-up Silvarius – who incidentally is still a maiden. Vijay commented after the race that Oasis was finishing on well in the Colts Trial Stakes won by Agnostic and he was confident that the extra 600m would favour him. Indeed, a well-calculated assessment which fetched him the top prize.

The favourite All Attractive failed to stay while his owner-mate Eastwood had to be withdrawn due to his unruly gate-manners. That was unfortunate for his forlorn connections as Eastwood had finished six lengths ahead of the Derby winner in the Colts Trial Stakes and Eastwood is definitely bred to stay. But then ‘ifs and buts’ are of no consequence in the realistic world of thoroughbred racing. It’s the final result that counts for that is what enters the record books for racing aficionados to peruse.

The connections of Silvarius should feel extremely hopeful about their blue-blooded colt whose rating may be pretty high now. The promising maiden colt needs to see the winning post once before his next entry in a classic and he will be quite a threat to any opposition. It is quite possible that the inexperienced youngster is not yet aware of what is expected of him, but then his mentor is the best judge of that.

Trainer Neil Darashah was in great form on Sunday as he led in three winners – Shivalic Gold, Sea Of Cortez and Cameleon’s Image. Shivalic Gold closed as the favourite for The Amorina Handicap and justified favouritism with a routine win. Allowing Devine Chakra to lead till the distance post, Shivalic Gold (David Livingston-Dhahab) with jockey Arshad Alam astride shot ahead to win without giving his followers any jitters as both Le Marc and Topnotch  found his pace a little too hot to handle.

Jockey Alam rode a similar race atop on-may favourite  Sea Of Cortez (Phoenix Tower – Connessa) in the Star Empire Handicap. He sat pretty at the heels of pace-setter Big Star till midway up the straight before urging his mount to take over the running with the help of a couple of cracks from his whip.Kimaya was a notable second.

Cameleons Image (Knight’s Tour-Admired) won an absolute thriller in fading light as Chetan Gowda sat in mid-bunch, took the turn eight wide and yet spared three-quarter of a length to Shivalik Silk at the wire.

Trainer Bharath Singh set the ball rolling for the day as his three-year-old bay filly Suestado (Western Aristocrat – Scarlet Empress) hacked the opposition in the seven furlong race for the Amazing Handicap. Apprentice Sujit Paswan took the bend wide but once the filly saw daylight, it was as good as over. She should win again when placed judiciously.

After a lung-opener in the Colts Trial Stakes, Tres Bien (Roderic Oconnor – Yesteryear) won the Gloriosa Handicap without much ado. Jockey A Imran Khan rode a regulation race astride this ward of trainer Faisal A Abbas to land the spoils from a fast finishing Choegyal who was the medium of quite a gamble.

Trainer Christopher Alford’s Euphrates (Phoenix Tower – Age of Magic) took full advantage of the withdrawal of ante-post favourite Sherwin in the Free Energy Handicap to win in  a tight finish from Adornica, despite shifting out to the outer-railings. To arrest the drift, jockey Shailesh Shinde put away the whip and rode her out hands-and-heels – a clever choice.

There was some consolation for the connections of Eastwood, as their Fenicia Mist (Saamidd-Yamuna) from the Vikash Jaiswal stable won the Palazziio’s Sun Handicap at every post in the hands of apprentice Hasib Alam.