It was thrills galore on at RCTC on Friday as Satish Narredu -trained Casteel (Sanus Per Aquam-Castle Queen) came with raking strides in the final furlong to peg back much fancied King Louis and annex the prestigious Governor’s Cup run over a mile. The public choice Glorious King never looked like raising a winning gallop which was a trifle surprising as his current form suggested otherwise. Both King Louis and Casteel were racing in the rear half of the eight horse field while Vincent Van Goghwas setting a cracking pace till the top of the straight where Raffaello took over. King Louis was the next to make his move and was indeed shaping like a winner before Vikrant atop rank outsider Casteel put an end to his aspirations.

The rest of the afternoon belonged to jockey Trevor who recorded a popular quadruple consisting of Garth, Saiko, Pantazi and Oishika in that order. Vijay Singh-trained Saiko (Multitude –Amore Mio) lifted the AB & M Indian Champagne Stakes run over seven furlongs. Permitting stablemate Dreamflight to call the shots with Admiringly in tow, till well into the straight, fast-finishing Saiko swept past them in a trice to post a comfortable victory.

One race earlier, Aashay Doctor-trained Garth (Dreamfield-Blue Moon) broke out of the maiden ranks by the skin of his teeth as he came out top in a three-way photo-finish involving Cascade and Divine Gift. It was Garth’s third consecutive effort over a trip of a mile and half. After failing last time out to Shine over seven furlongs. Aashay Doctor-trained Pantazi (Western Aristocrat-Waveband)came good over a six furlong sprint for The Castlebridge Handicap. The on-money favourite made every post a winning one without much ado. Trevor signed off for the day by posting Habbu-trained Oishika’s third win of the season. The mare by Dali out of Lucy In the Sky faced no challenge whatsoever from the favourite Conjurer.

Despite a limited string of runners, trainer B Rajender Reddy has been placing his wards well to be third in the trainers’ championship table behind Aashay and Neil Darashah. On this day, his Power Racer (Speaking Of Which-Mea Culpa)pocketed the day’s opener run over a mile in the hands of the reliable Gaurav Singh. He was available at lucrative odds of 9/2 as money poured in on Toussaint who is now an eight-year-old.The winner has incurred a penalty of 6kg for this win and may nevertheless win again in the higher class if judiciously placed.

The curtain came down on the day’s events with Sabeel Shariff-trained Jimmy Bee (Multitude-Skylight Express) producing an encore in the hands of Vishal Bunde. His phenomenal improvement seems to have scared away the opposition. The only other trier in the field was Cat Whiskers who finished runner-up.