After recording a thumping victory on Monday, Sun Dancer showed no tardiness while annexing the upper division of the Dashmesh And Hargobind Stud & Livestock Farm Cup within a short span of 24 hours on Tuesday. Coincidently, on both the days, he competed at the same time. The in-form apprentice jockey Rajinder Saini, who partnered with the winner, had a wonderful evening by completing a hat-trick with Feraligator and  Gin and Tonic. Jockey Rajinder and Trainer Magan Singh were the other professionals to land a double.

When the field of six horses appeared on the track, Sun Dancer and Shubh Shubh succeeded in catching the attention of all. But when the starter sent them off from the seven furlongs, the focus turned on to the strides of Sun Dancer who not only set his pace on his own but the way of his thrashing the field mercilessly also became the talk of the day. "I had expected him to be on the board on Monday but today (Tuesday), I was very much sure about his victory," Rajan Dhari Singh, owner, told me.

"Usually, he loves to run better over the longer distances but his sparkling performance over the sprint has certainly stole my heart," he said. "I hope he'll continue to make me proud," he added.

The son of Senure and Sun Worship's outstanding performance may ensure him a hat-trick. Protection looked to be struggling in closing-in the gaps. However, her scope for improvement is vast. The much acclaimed colt, Shubh Shubh, from the yard of Ishwar Singh Parmar was entrusted to take on the burden of extra 300 m without giving him much preparation. He jumped out well but was settled back into the fifth place. Attempting to travel widest of the six and the gap widening at the curve made his chances weaker but from the way he devoured ground towards end signals that he is capable of any task.

The lower division of the Dashmesh And Hargobind Stud & Livestock Farm Cup witnessed a rare three-way finish hardly seen in a field of four horses. When Feraligator, More Than A Woman and Charg Away were separated by a neck and short-head. It was the overconfident riding of Syed Afsar Shah on More Than A woman and unsatisfactory handling of apprentice K Sunny Kumar on "Charg Away", particularly in the last furlong, paved the way for Feraligator to poke through between them in a nick of time.

More Than A woman looked to be in hurry until she was forced to hit the front at the top of the homestretch. Shah should have settled his mount behind Tokaido waiting for his exhaustion that would have certainly helped him to complete a double. Charge Away made a slow beginning against her liking and when the mare started staking a claim in the straight, she was prevented from doing so.

The champion jockey Rajinder guided the fortune of the favourite Pleiad at the back crushing weight 61 kilograms in the day's opener Ballo Plate. The most aged horse (8-year-old) in a small field of four had left no challenge after the fall of Shadab Khan from the second favourite Minha Carina at the early part. In the following Homeward Bound II Plate, the top notched jockey showed his prowess on Captain Planet over the distance (1,100 m) under whom the gelding, earlier, finished fourth twice. The winning margin of nine lengths indicates that he is capable of winning more stakes even the longer distance.

Gin And Tonic once again proved that she has no match for the horses running over five furlongs. The three-year-old filly, who had a quadruple to her credit during the previous season, routed the class two competitors ruthlessly. She stopped the clock at 0.59.22 secs bettering her previous timing by a fraction of 73 seconds making every post a winning one. She is really a hard nut to crack over 1,000 m. The favourite Catalunya failed to defy the class penalty finishing third behind Real Queen.  However, the former's run is best ignored. Rose Velt became the fourth horse to sustain in a start-to-finish bid while beating Strokeofbrilliance narrowly in the concluding event - Dance Away Plate.