Though several fancied runners failed to occupy the winner’s berth during the cloudy afternoon, there was no such problem with the shortest priced favourite of the day – Meropi. The daughter of Western Aristocrat out of Panamera from the yard of Aashay Doctor quite easily accounted for her three rivals in the hands of YS Srinath. Permitting Super Stride to show the way till heads turned for home, she sailed smoothly into the lead in the straight. A couple of reminders saw the filly win the mile race by five long lengths from the front-runner. One race earlier, Srinath experienced a more difficult time when he guided home the on-money favourite Jawai (Top Class – Kabini) in the seven-furlong race for the Silver Beauty Handicap. Mandela called the early shots with the favourite tucked in along the rails. The other fancied runner Thar moved up to join Mandela at the top of the turn while Jawai opted for the rails. A couple of backhanders from Srinath was all that was required to keep the lead of the Bharath Singh ward intact.

The Indian Ari Force Cup run over a mile and a quarter with only four in the fray in fact turned out to be the thriller of the day. With Presidential planting at the gates, the field was virtually reduced to three. Though carrying 4kg more than his stablemate and favourite Leonardo, Vijay Singh-trained Monteverdi shot into the lead and showed the way merrily till the home turn while Leonardo was in a handy second position and Cold Pursuit not too far behind. After the turning for home Leonardo quite easily sailed into the lead and was over a length clear before a defiant Hindu Singh on Monteverdi (Roderic O’Connor – Arabelle) came back at his rival all guns blazing. Monteverdi got the measure of the favourite very close home. Suraj Narredu on Leonardo had no way of using the stick as the two horses were glued together while Hindu Singh was using the whalebone freely in his left hand. This may have cost Leonardo the race.

The afternoon started with two fancied runners – Daddy’s Dream and Sun God – having to be satisfied with the minor berths as Christopher Alford-trained Musical Sound (Phoenix Tower – Musical Note) overhauled them close home. Aided by a forward run in her previous essay over seven furlongs, Nikhil Naidu began to work on his mount mid-way up the straight and she responded magnificently.

In the next race, The Eastern Air Command Cup, Shyam Habbu-trained Taimur’s Choice (Arabian Gulf – Fairtheewell) produced an encore with a degree of comfort. The fancied pair of Yazh and Dr Doom were outpaced by the winner in the final furlong. The victory was the first notched up by jockey RS Bhati after his Mysore mishap several months ago. The curtain came down with Vikash Jaiswal-trained Shivalik Silk (David Livingston- Al Shababiya) using her handicap to good effect to peg back the favourite Tres Bien. Sujit Kumar Paswan rode the six-year-old mare to victory after riding a forward race on her. That’s the way she likes to run – up front with the leaders.