Trainers Aashay Doctor and Neil Darashah scored a brace each while jockeys Trevor Patel, Antony Raj and Vishal Bunde shared the six races equally between them at RCTC on a damp and dull mid-week afternoon. Punters fared fairly well as three on-money favourites and one second favourite obliged. Even the two winners who may be considered to be the outsiders of the afternoon – Dali Swirl and Sky Hawk - found backers in the ring at odds of 9/2 and 5/1. Thus, all in all, it was a form-oriented afternoon of racing which is always welcome for the form-workers who make up a major bulk of the local turfites.Also welcome was the return of renowned caller Cyrus Madan in the commentator’s box after missing out on the first two days.

The first of the cup events – The My Opinion Cup – was lifted by Aashay Doctor-trained filly Trakila (Western Aristocrat – Nickel Chrome) without raising a sweat in the hands of Trevor Patel. After a somewhat tardy beginning, she moved up smoothly to collar Dubai Princess and leave the field standing. One race later, in The Independence Cup run over an identical distance of seven furlongs, B Mahesh -trained Dali Swirl (Roderic O’Connor-Pandora) moved with raking strides in the straight to peg back the likes of Snowpiercer and course favourite Go For The Moon. Antony Raj rode a hard finish to lift this prestigious event on the eve of the country’s independence day.

The afternoon commenced with Antony hogging the limelight as Neil Darashah-trained Togo (Fiero-Duma) registered a popular victory to make the Wise Guy Handicap his own. The big-boned dark bay gelding moved with telling strides to sail past Dancing Queen in the straight. The run of the well-backed 13/10 favourite Fortune Warrior was a joke. In fact, the rest of the field were never in it. Neil Darashah completed a brace and Vishal Bunde rode the first of his two winners of the day when three-year-old Galway Girl (Dreamfield-Actual) maintained her Bangalore summer form as she recorded another runaway victory in a mile race in open class. This full sister to Leger winning Nomitsi has more races in store for her in the months to follow. 

Jockey Trevor Patel enjoyed the first of his two armchair rides during the day when Aashay Doctor-trained filly Polka Dot (Western Aristocrat – Jersey Girl) romped home in the seven-furlong sprint for the Brighter Future Plate for Maidens. Jockey Vishal Bunde brought the curtain down in style when he rode the best finish of the day to guide home seven-year-old Sky Hawk (Whatsthescript-Shenlyika) from Sabeel Shariff’s yard to a spectacular triumph over Trevor’s mount – Sabar. Rather surprisingly, it was Sabar’s stablemate Impressive Annie who closed as the 2/1public choice.