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The afternoon commenced favourably for the Vijay Singh stable. Christopher Alford enjoyed an armchair victory astride Validate. The fact that he had matched strides with classy stablemate Azureus in his last outing of the monsoon season obviously helped his cause. Aqua Glow was the pace-setter till the bend while Blue Mountain was a poor fourth.
The favourite Carmen was a costly failure once again. The filly Maznavi made every post a winning one in Nirmal Jodha’s hands. Though Carmen appeared to get the measure of her close home, Javed Khan’s ward came on with a second wind. Jockey Kamlesh had to pull out all stops on Everybody Salsa to bag the lower division of the Aristocrat Handicap. The filly was taken wide by Easter Lily at the bend while top-weights Rithambhra and Island Warrior were going great guns. The former’s run was noteworthy.
Everybody Salsa responded to Kamlesh’s whalebone magnificently. The Deepak Karki yard pulled off a great win with Carlito while fancied runners Crown Princess and Enzo occupied the minor placings. Enzo ran a good forward race and was beaten close home by Carlito who was hard ridden by Surjeet Singh. Though overlooked by many, the winner had shown encouraging monsoon form and his win was no big surprise for those in the know.
The Cavalry Cup saw Roman Quintet installed as the 3/1 favourite. After Protection had set the early pace, the Daniel David ward was taken to the front by Arman Khan and he stayed there till the end. Kamlesh on Excel put up a brave show along the rails but the front-runner simply would not relent. One Man Army finished on very well to be a good third.
After running twice in classic company, Terrazas found it quite easy to tackle the lot in the seven furlong race for the Bengal Area Cup. The Shroff-trained filly was piloted with a degree of confidence by Ruzaan. Superman was a faraway second while Chinatown never appeared to have a chance.
Shroff and Ruzaan combined once again in the Bangalore Turf Club Cup to complete a double with Snowden. This fashionably bred gelding (Placerville-Snow Dew) met the highest class without batting an eyelid. Despite a tardy beginning, he took over the running in the straight and won as he liked. This was his fifth win in a row – twice in Mumbai last year, once during monsoon and twice again this season. His manner of win suggests that there may be still more gas left in his tank.
Jockey Christopher Alford showed his determination to win astride maiden-starter Golden Globe in the upper division of the Ming Dynasty Handicap. The colt was languishing in mid-division while Knights Falcon seemed to be headed for the winning post. It took all of Alford’s skills to win the seven-furlong race close home. Bach was completely unimpressive and may prefer a shorter trip.
