In a nail-biting finish that had visitors on the edge of their seats, trainer Neil Darashah’s six-year-old bay gelding Sea Lion (Phoenix Tower – Tropical Blue) edged out course favourite Stormy Ocean by the shortest of margins at the wire to lift the Tenno Sho Cup. Young apprentice Saba had the front-runner going great guns from the word go and though his strides shortened in the final furlong of the mile race, he managed to pull it off. As for the runner-up, there’s no doubt that he is an excellent miler and will live to fight another day.

Adored by local turfites not so long ago for his phenomenal success on this track, popular champion trainer Vijay Singh made a triumphant return to his home turf with his dark bay colt Light Fantastic (Arazan – La Joie De Vie) who brought the curtain down in dramatic fashion as he got the better of the on-money public choice Snowpiercer after a keen tussle in the straight. The winner was given a thorough preparation at Bangalore. Jockey Hindu Singh squeezed a path along the rails and rode out his mount vigorously to land the spoils.

Monsoon Derby hopeful Nomitsi ( Dreamfield – Actual)won the 2000 metres race for the Brown Wolf Handicap in great style. The Aashay Doctor – trained colt was piloted by Yash Narredu. Yash had him racing up with the pacemaker Mandela till the turning for home and then pulled away to win as he liked. The disappointment in the race was another three-year-old – the filly Vinalia – who finished a faraway fourth.

The afternoon commenced sedately enough with trainer Anil Kumar’s Aretha (Win Legend – Wind Of Soul) bagging the 1800 metres race without much ado. Jockey Hindu Singh had him racing up with the front-runners till the straight and shot ahead to win comfortably. Both Sun Flare and Just Dash are ones for the notebook

Trainer Sabeel Shariff and his trusted knight Arman Khan pulled off a massive gamble with bottom-weighted seven-year-old Lightning Charlie (Surfrider – Royal Princess) who made every post of the Goldliner Handicap a winning one. Though he drifted out to the outer rails in the home stretch, he nevertheless spared over seven lengths to the course favourite Historic. Shariff’s understanding of handicapping was evident in this race as his ward was receiving 7kg from the favourite and he utilised that to full effect in preparation for the gamble. The handicapper did not spare the winner and handed him a 7kg penalty which is a tad harsh considering he is a seven-year-old in the twilight of his racing career.

Trainer B Mahesh has been fairly successful with his small string after moving to this centre and he increased his tally with the victory of Cyrenaica (Cougar Mountain – Cyrene) in the 1100 metres sprint for the Safari Handicap. Jockey Antony Raj had to work hard on the eventual winner to peg back the runaway Kaitlan at the wire.

Paswan’s licence withdrawn: The Stewards of RCTC have withdrawn the licence to ride of jockey Sujit Kumar Paswan till September 2027. After a marathon seven-month long enquiry, the Stipes have established beyond doubt that Paswan had intentionally fallen off the favourite Dubai King on February 1.