Jockey Imran Chisty rode a power-packed finish astride eight-year-old Sir Baffert  (Knight’s Tour-Berry Girl) to bring home the bacon for the Rutherford Alford stable in the six-furlong sprint for the Azureus Handicap.Chisty squeezed in along the rails to edge out heavy-weight Liban who is in the running for the ‘horse of the season’ sash. Rather ‘conveniently’  the favourite Sky Force – a winner of four races – was slow off the blocks by about six lengths. She had never been slow off in her earlier starts. The odds on Sir Baffert shortened to 3/1 while Sky Force expanded to 13/10.Ian Fleming’s words come to mind – first is happenstance, second is coincidence, third time it’s enemy action. It happened with Main Street and now with Sky Force. Will there be a third time? In both the earlier cases, the beneficiary were the same connections.

The handicapper was on cloud nine after the race for the Point To Prove Handicap. The experienced man definitely proved his point as seven horses crossed the line within a space of half-a-length. Ace rider P Trevor rode a spectacular finish astride the favourite Madras Cheque (Top Class-Immortal Story) to edge out Chilli Lady at the wire. He said after the race that the mare had stumbled right after the start and he gave her time to settle down after that. Thereafter, he had to weave his way through a host of traffic in the straight to land the spoils for the Patrick Quinn yard.

Quinn however missed out narrowly on his next gamble on Snowpiercer in the 2000 metres race for the Beat The Distance Handicap.Jockey Suraj Narredu pulled out all stops to ensure that the five-year-old mare Good Deeds (Roderic O’Connor-Remembrance Of You) wins her fourth race of the season for trainer Rajesh Narredu. Good Deeds is another in line for ‘the horse of the season’ title.

Trainer Anil Kumar’s MSG Fantasy (Tenth Star-She’s An Ace) won the Ansbach Cup in style in the hands of his trusted knight A Ashhad Asbar. The six-year-old mare moved with telling strides in the straight to sail past Jean Lafette. The one for the notebook is Born To Be Spoilt who may prefer a longer trip. The Fiddler Handicap saw Shafiq Khan-trained Dubai King (Perfect Stride – Highland Ghillie) win easily from Lahina. The six-year-old sprinter was available at lucrative odds – possibly because of the presence of Md Sameer astride. The rider however rode a highly competent race which was lauded by his trainer. Normally a forward runner, second placed Lahina was knocked out of her stride by the winner at the jump-out from the gates. She raced in the rear and made up a lot of ground in the straight. However, all said and done, Dubai King would have won this race without a doubt. He was a cut above.

Trainer Vikash Jaiswal narrated an interesting anecdote after the win of Zambezi (Fiero-Namibia) in the Supreme Princess Handicap. Neil Darashah told him after the last win of Zambezi that the horse was for sale. Vikash immediately pounced on the opportunity. “He needs a strong rider he said and Varun did the necessary today. I told him to sit tight till the straight and make his move thereafter”. He followed the instructions to a ‘T’ and returned victorious.