Trainer Adhiraj Singh Jodha was in his element on the day that mattered as his two wards – Time And Tide and Dyf – pocketed the two major events of the afternoon on Saturday at RCTC. Available at lucrative odds of 7/1, Time And Tide lifted the Zavary S Poonawalla Sprinters Cup in great style in the experienced hands of PS Chouhan. Following Joaquin till the turning for home, Time And Tide left the field standing thereafter as the four-year- old son of Dali out Starlet put daylight between him and the rest of the field of eight. Magileto and Siege Courageous finished second and third respectively. The current ‘sprint king’ of the country stopped the clock at an amazing time of 1min 9.816sec which is as close to the record time as it gets.

One race later Dyf (Cougar Mountain – Soak) won the Dr MAM Ramaswamy Chettiar Of Chettinad Memorial Stayers Cup in dramatic fashion with Trevor in the saddle. Just as it seemed Trevor had left it too late, the five-year-old chestnut moved with raking strides to sail past front- running Ruling Dynasty inside the furlong marker much to the relief of his backers. Local hope Third Avenue ended up third. The top three finishers may all be termed as ‘ good stayers’ over this marathon trip of 3000 metres.

The recipient of the ‘Champion Trainer’ award – Pesi Shroff- very aptly set the ball rolling when his filly Villanelle (Admirality – Tonnarella) bagged the Coromandel Gromor Coromandel Million by over five long lengths from another filly Dona Sienna. Mallesh Narredu – trained Star Prosperity (Excellent Art – Stravella) with son Yash in the saddle was the next favourite to oblige. He beat True Faith by a formidable margin of four lengths in the mile race for the Delhi Race Club Million.

On-money favourites continued to rule the roost in the first half of the afternoon as Prasanna Kumar-trained Royal Mysore (Gusto – Daffodils)made every post a winning one in the seven-furlong sprint for the Hyderabad Race Club Million. Local hope Meropi ran a good race to finish half-a-length behind the winner who was ridden by Vivek. Trainer Patrick Quinn’s recent import King’s Retreat (Letir Mor – Balmoral Castle) quite easily accounted for his rivals in the race for The Mysore Race Club Million. A couple of reminders from Trevor’s whalebone was enough to send the four-year-old bay gelding scooting ahead of the field at the distance post as he overhauled front-running Chillilady who may be more comfortable over six furlongs. Satish Narredu-trained Star Glory (Top Class – Confiance) made every post of the Japan Cup a winning one in the safe hands of Suraj Narredu. Black Eagle was a creditable runner-up.

Jockey Trevor Patel completed a popular treble as he enthralled the grand stand with a humdinger of a finish astride My Princess (Tamayuz-Qawaffy) in the day’s final event. The ward of Amal Altaf Hussain got up in the last stride to get the better of front-running Castillo in the shadow of the winning post. Dubai King ended up a good third but may prefer a longer trip.

The Turf Authorities Of India Awards Night followed in the evening and there were no surprises among the awardees:

Champion trainer – Pesi Shroff.

Champion Jockey – Suraj Narredu.

Champion Stud Farm – Usha.

Hall Of Fame - Cyrus J Madan.