On a warm Sunday afternoon at RCTC, a minute’s silence was observed before the commencement of racing in memory of Leo D’Silva who had passed away earlier in the day. He was a successful jockey-turned-trainer in the south India circuit.

Turfites were in for some rude shocks in the first three races of the day. Ace jockey Trevor saved the day for followers of money with a highly popular double – Sky Force and Trakila. Punters were on the receiving end prior to Trevor’s doubleand even after that. Trevor opened his account with Arti Doctor-trained Sky Force (Fiero-Ha Ha Tonka) who won the five-and-half furlong sprint for the Ocean And Beyond Handicap start to finish without much ado. In the very next race – The Mayfowl Cup (the day’s main event) Trevor guided home Aashay Doctor-trained filly Trakila(Western Aristocrat-Nickel Chrome) to a splendid triumph over front-running Black Eagle. Lying last of a small field of four till the straight, Trakila displayed marvellous acceleration to sail past Black Eagle opposite the grandstand.

Young trainer B Rajender Reddy is indeed a clever and shrewd customer with plenty of insight into the ability of his wards. He flew in able jockey Gaurav Singh from the south and pulled off a pricey double with Amalfitana and Fortune Warrior. In the day’s opener, The Regal Connection Handicap, seven-year-old Amalfitana was hard ridden by Gaurav to get the better of another outsider NRI Fantasy inside the distance post. One race later – The Right Ahead Handicap over a mile – Fortune Warrior (Sanus per Aquam– Schiavone) made it a start to finish affair, staving off a late challenge from Made In Heaven. The favourite Soul Aquarian was slowly out of the gates and disappointed all the way.

The mile and quarter race for The Arabian Prince Handicap was an eye-opener for the local racing fraternity as it showed their youngsters in poor light. S. Waheed’s seven-year-old dark bay gelding Zarak (Royal Gladiator -Miss Rising), a recent import from western India, mauled the youthful opposition (Goodwill and Champagnesupernova) by over eight lengths

The last two races of the afternoon once again witnessed favourites biting the dust. In the upper division of the Cambridge Handicap, top-weight Clever Hans (Gusto-Avision) from Vikash Jaiswal’s stable caused quite a sensation with Varun in the saddle as he got the better of fancied three-year-old Noorie close home. The ante-post favourite Midnight Blue had to be withdrawn as he was extremely fractious at the starting stalls. The victory of seven-year-old bay gelding Clever Hans was a feather in the cap of Jaiswal who maintains his aged runners in extremely good condition. He said later that as his horse was a mile winner in Class III last year while carrying top-weight, he took a chance in Class IV – kudos to him!

The curtain came down with Rutherford Alford’s Hermod (French Navy – Romania) winning the lower division of the Cambridge Handicap in style. The three-year-old had the benefit of a forward top-weight run last week and came good at the bottom-weight in the higher class. Jockey Vinod Shinde rode a fine race as he held the youngster back in a close fifth slot before making his run in the straight.