Despite the summer heat Neil Darashah’s Snow Leopard displayed ample speed to lift the Aazish Cup in style by four lengths from Mathangi. Jockey Zervan took no chances on the favourite and hit the front from the word go. The daughter of Phoenix Tower out of Kissed By The Mist has more races in store for her. In the next race, The Colombiana Handicap, Rutherford Alford-trained Stormy Ocean (Speaking Of Which – Sherman Oaks) defied his winning penalty of 5.5kg to register his second successive victory in this mile event. Kiefer was on a start to finish mission but had nothing extra in her tank when challenged by Imran Chisty atop the public fancy. Toussaint and Neeraj Rawal came with telling strides in the final furlong to finish a close second. Quietly fancied by some – second favourite Life Is Good is a tad over-raced and seems to have reached the end of his tether.

The upset of the day came in the afternoon’s final race when Vikash Jaiswal-trained Power Racer (Speaking Of Which – Mea Culpa) finally displayed his penchant for middle distances in the mile-and-quarter event with a phenomenal victory by eight lengths over Born To Be Spoilt. Fancied runner Lucky Nine finished in the ruck while front-running Cristaldo ended up a poor fourth. It may be noted here that Power Racer had done nothing of note except run a faraway second in a two-horse Leger and runner-up in a six-furlong sprint early in the season. However, his last-run over seven-furlongs where he finished an eye-catching fourth aided his quest for victory. Incidentally, his dam Mea Culpa was a Bangalore Oaks winner in 2019 and is by Multidimensional out of Yana. With this facile victory under his belt, he should be able to notch up a few more wins in the future. The handicapper has penalised him 7kg which places him at the top of Class IV (or bottom of Class III).

Two heavy gambles in the first two races came good. In the day’s opener, The Beauregard Handicap, which was a ‘no whips’ race -Shafiq Khan-trained Fulcrum (Roderic O’Connor – Devoted Eyes) – a recent western India import - pulverised the field in the hands of Mustakim Alam. He made every post a winning one by a street from the Jaiswal pair of Elite and Historic. Cap Ferrat was considered a non-starter by the Stewards as jockey Arul had not mounted the filly when the gates opened.

In the next race, The Contralto Handicap, the stable of trainer Anil Kumar pulled off the gamble of the season. The colt Vinamrao ( Planetaire – Just Julie) closed at 16/10 after opening at 7/2 while Asterix expanded to 2/1. Neeraj Rawal gave Asterix a free rein early in the race and the five-year-old succumbed in the final fifty metres to a hard-ridden Vinamrao with Hindu Singh astride. Asterix is known to be a difficult ride, but if runaway tactics werethe instructions given – then a competent apprentice claiming an allowance may have done the trick. But that’s racing for you – you win some, you lose some! Retrospective observations are purely for form-workerslike myself to ponder upon.

The third race of the day – The Windsong Handicap –should have pleased the handicapper no end as it witnessed a blanket finish featuring the favourite My Princess, Fancy Nancy and the ultimate winner Twenty Six Black (Tenth Star – Zahour Al Yasmeen) from the stable of Daniel David, piloted brilliantly by apprentice Abdul Fazal.