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Going For Gold, Castle Queen and Bid For Gold exchanged the lead while Hayes sat pretty in the fourth slot with only Aemilia and Harmonica behind them. As the six-horse field neared the turning for home, Hayes positioned his mount beautifully just behind the pair of Going For Gold and Bid For Gold. He bisected the duo without raising a sweat and galloped to a facile victory. Aemilia ran on to occupy the runner-up berth while Harmonica quite obviously detested the extra distance. The supporting event, The Army Cup, saw a close finish involving the pair of crack sprinters Ming and Ikaria. The last named lost all his chances at the gates when he ran in the Calcutta Gold Cup last week. The Vinayak-trained four-year-old was hard-ridden by Ruzaan to stave off a determined challenge from Chisty and Ming.
The General A S Vaidya Memorial Cup saw the favourite Golden Globe come unstuck despite gracing the bottom o the scale. He was being pushed from the 600 marker in the mile race. Javed Khan-trained Aamar Kaku recorded his fourth consecutive victory despite being penalized 7 kg for his last effort. His total penalty over four wins has been 16.5 kg. It will be interesting to see where the handicapper will place this big-hearted youngster next.
The afternoon commenced with Bath-trained Arienzo cruising to an easy victory over Desire To Dazzle. The favourite Kuhaylan failed miserably while Sea Sprite was outclassed.
Everybody Salsa produced an encore after getting the better of Maznavi in the straight. The filly had to be hard-ridden by Hayes for his first win of the day.
Vijay Singh-trained Agent Archie quite easily collared Royal Saga to win the Relevance Plate. C. Alford rode a measured race on the youngster on his maiden outing.
Arti Doctor-trained Thundering Hooves picked up the Dasho Lhendup Dorji Memorial Cup after running away from the hot favourite Corazon. Apprentice Sameer used his 5kg allowance to good effect.
Jockey C. Alford completed his treble when he piloted Adriano to his maiden triumph in the last race of the day, The Mandrake Handicap run over a mile. The fashionably bred Mr Mellon-Paradise Dancer colt gave no anxious moments to his supporters. All three winning mounts of C. Alford are from the classy stable of Deepak Khaitan.
