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Apprentice jockey Vikash Tamang, who claims an allowance of 5 kg, rode an exemplary finish atop Italian Affair in the lower division of the Azilian Handicap. The John Stephens ward was collared by One Man Army in the straight and looked to be a beaten horse. However, One Man Army veered out under the whip and under the relentless urgings of Tamang, Italian Affair came on again to win close home.
The favourite for the Sentouki Plate for two-year-olds was the 55-paise filly from Vijay Singh’s yard Strike A Deal. She was seen to be sluggish all the way and finished an unimpressive third. Hailing from Delhi, brothers Sarfaraz and Shafiq Khan had three runners in the fray. They were Alam Ara, Alice Rose and Farzeen. The last named lost a certain a race as she drifted out to the outer rails after leading all the way. Jockey Gajender Singh refrained from changing his whiphand and very nearly caused a serious accident. Not surprisingly, the Stewards held an enquiry into the running of the race. Robert Gowli-trained Krptonite, who was travelling third, took the shortest route home under a clever piece of riding from Islam and picked up the race.
Going For Gold ran a fine forward race in the Own Ability Handicap and appeared to have got the better of Washington Irvine at the distance post. However, Neeraj Rawal did well to find a passage down the centre with Accessor and peg back the duo. Rather unjustly, the crowd’s ire was directed at C. Alford for the favourite Washington Irvine getting beat again. What chance did an overrated colt which failed to collar Aquaglow while in receipt of 10 kg have. Moreover he was given a stiff penalty of 3.5 kg for that effort! Accessor (Chevalier-Dellua) obviously relished the extra distance.
Bath-trained Acrostic ran an eye-catching race with youngsters early in the season. He reproduced that run in his own age group to make mince-meat of his rivals in the Freelancer Handicap. There was a gamble on him and he closed at a lucrative 7/2. The curtain came down with Darius Byramji-trained Excellent Ability treating his rivals with utter disdain in the Miss X O Lence Handicap.
The favourite Glamorous Spirit (another overrated runner from Vijay Singh’s yard) was an expected failure while Countess ran below expectations.
