Shub Shubh's winning chariot came to a grinding halt when The Rock crushed his hopes in The President of India Cup at the Delhi races on Tuesday. Trainer SP Singh (Shree Pal Singh) and jockey Irfan Ali held the centrestage by sharing a treble each respectively.When the four-year-old top-class horses broke out of the gate, Shub Shubh's strategy of running behind Enya till the race came to a boil, gave an impression that he would remain unconquered. But The Rock and Ashwa Pratap had something else in their strides. Coming from the tail end, both invaded the champion sprinter's territory at the same juncture, but The Rock succeeded in measuring the duo by a whisker in a rare three-way-finish, and that too in a small field of five.

The son of Ontario and Mystery Mood, The Rock had struggled with form during the previous season. However, his recent performances have dispersed the cloud of doubts and he is now expected to eye a mile trip. Ashwa Pratap should make amends. Shub Shubh, who had scored under excessive use of whip in the last attempt, was again seen bearing the quirt indicating that he wasn’t comfortable with the cold weather. The trainer Ishwar Singh Parmar was also of opinion that winter has affected the horse’s stamina. Bharat T Singh-trained Black Virgin's (Inner City-Share Speed) stunning turn of foot made Firecracker scapegoat in the upper division of The Red Fort Plate, the opening race of the day. The lower division of the plate saw a brilliant piece of riding by Irfan Ali on Skyros (Black cash-Lucina).

Travelling in the seventh position at half-way mark of the 1,200m track, and fifth at the top of the homestretch, the lanky reinman brought out the best of the mount to get a body length better of drifting out Siroco. Kerry Blue ran on to be notable third. Having been rechristened from Chevron to Devputra made no difference as once again his luck ran out in the senior division of The Janpath Plate. He was on the verge of meeting with success after a gap of one year as he was in the position to send the pack off the pace till The Dukes (Classic Tale-Red Rosette) doubled him in his strides to get the head better of him. He should make amends. Dazzling Wise, who ran fourth behind Invisible Force, should be able to achieve success soon. Amity (Hymn-Eternal Beauty) returned to the winning track over the suitable seven furlongs in the lower division of the event.

He should complete an encore. Beatrice, who made Amity sweat while leading the way in the straight, should be able to earn victory. The last two events of The President House Plate were dominated by Irfan Ali. Riding patiently over the shorter trip of five furlongs, Irfan made Classic Spirit (Hymn-Spirit Of Patxi) and Johnny Bravo (Hymn-Ranora) dance to his tunes. The former is capable of completing a double. The run of Prince Railco and Heavenly Angel, who ran second and third respectively to Johnny Bravo, is best ignored. Masquerate, Happygolucky and Windstorm were the other impressive runners to get a place in the notebook.