The card framed for Thursday’s evening races was essentially routine in nature with no fireworks expected and none provided on the race-track. Most of the winners had an easy passage to victory mainly due to the lack of quality competition. The likes of the juvenile filly Kavya and the in-form speedster Credence were spot on as far as the punters’ expectation was concerned, however, Baleno and Endurance ran nowhere near the performance anticipated from them.
 
Running just two weeks after her facile win, Shazaan Shah-saddled Credence had lost none of her spark and she simply outpaced her rivals on promotion. Entrusted once again to a 5kg claimer, Credence (Excellent Art – Maleficent) was pushed to take charge of the running by Aditya Waydande and the bay filly left the other five contestants chasing her shadow all the way to claim the Hindu Trophy. Fighton, running after a gap of three months and conceding over 7kg to the winner, was in a futile chase of Credence, who collected her fourth win this season. Fighton ended runner-up with Timeless Vision managing to take the third spot from Azrinaz, who was a spent force in the straight.
 
Mansingh Jadhav-schooled filly Kavya ended up as the shortest price runner of the day as she took on seven rivals in the Times of India Trophy. Kavya raced in close attendance of the three front-runners – Wrangler, Noorie and Eleven Eleven till the two-furlong post where NS Parmar spurred the favourite to take charge and then drew away for a convincing win. Money Fair gained momentum in the final stages of the race to take the second slot with Noorie ending a long way behind to be third and had Wrangler finishing a neck away.
 
Eaton Square from Malesh Narredu’s yard, for a change, took a level jump from the gates on this occasion to join favourite Endurance in the front and soon took charge of the running. Yash Narredu-piloted then raced merrily in the front and was a winner at every stage of the mile and quarter trip for the Mid-Day Trophy. Endurance failed to quicken when Neeraj reminded him of his task and bowed out of the contest far too easily. Kimiko improved towards the end stages but Eaton Square (Multidimensional – Xisca) had already put the issue to rest. Black Thunder ran on to take the third place ahead of Endurance while Gordon and Multiverse finished off the board.
 
The two leading saddle artists of Western India – Trevor Patel and A. Sandesh, partnered two winners apiece in the seven-event card. Sandesh had to work hard astride both Eastern Monarch and Ekla Cholo whom he steered to victory whereas Trevor had a relatively easy task aboard Alpha Gene and Chardikala. Sanjay Kolse-saddled Eastern Monarch hit the front from the barriers and had a commanding lead when he entered the home stretch with Allez L’etoile and Charlie Brown in pursuit. Favourite Charlie Brown started to devour ground when Neeraj Rawal applied pressure on him to collar Eastern Monarch and for a moment it appeared that the former would soon overwhelm his rival. However, Charlie Brown hung out badly in the last furlong and half and despite Neeraj’s attempt to get his mount to race on an even keel, the favourite drifted out further and ended up racing towards the outer fence. Sandesh, meanwhile, drove Eastern Monarch (Dali – Honour) relentlessly and had the good fortune of returning victorious in the Free Press Journal Trophy, defeating fast-finishing Charlie Brown by a whisker. Charisse and Lightning McQueen, the two debutant fillies, had a good educative run when finishing third and fourth respectively.
 
After playing hide and seek with the winning post during his campaign this season, the Faisal Abbas trainee Ekla Cholo finally tasted success in the Indiarace.com Trophy. The vast amount of smart money attracted by Ekla Cholo and the odds against his nearest rivals going astray in the betting ring were sort of an indication that the Sandesh partnered favourite would have little difficulty in delivering the goods. However, the resistance for Ekla Cholo came from unexpected quarters as Lightning Blaze very nearly upset the applecart of the favourite after tackling leader Collateral in the straight. It was Sandesh’s strong handling of Ekla Cholo (Surfrider – Narya) which enabled the favourite to humble Lightning Blaze a few strides before the winning post. Untitled finished third ahead of The Sengol Queen.
 
Ivor Fernandes-groomed Alpha Gene registered an encore and scored an easier than expected win in the seven-horse field contesting for the Racingpulse.in Trophy run over a mile and quarter. Northbound called the early shots with Trevor biding his time aboard Alpha Gene, who was settled close behind the leader. Alpha Gene (Smuggler’s Cove – Beldon Hill) surged past tiring Northbound inside the last two furlongs and skipped away under the whip, staving off the late bid of runner-up Cascade. Northbound retired to be third while Baleno ran below expectation to be fourth.
 
Trainer Altamash Ahmed’s decision to race Chardikala over seven-furlongs worked in the filly’s favour as she made every post of the Race Mirror Trophy a winning one. Trevor took Chardikala (Western Aristocrat – Jersey Girl) to the front as soon as the gates opened and the favourite won comfortably though Empower added some excitement with a late finishing effort. Chardikala won sparing a length and half to Empower with Pure finishing an identical distance away in the third spot and had Scorcese following him home.