It would be fair to say that Saturday belonged to jockey Christopher Alford. This centre's leading jockey produced a scintillating performance to notch up six wins in his seven mounts. The sole failure was atop Michevious Rose in the lower division of the Deep Water Blues handicap won by the heavily gambled Dynamic Move from Javed Khan's yard.

Perhaps, the most unique feature of the afternoon was that all five legs of the Jackpot pool were pocketed by Alford. Not surprisingly, the pool paid a nominal amount. The highest priced horse among the five was Arktouros in the day's feature, the Mayfowl Cup. The other winners in the popular pool were Romantic Tactics, Admaris, Quantum of Solace and Quantico.

Samarkhand and Arktouros were involved in a see-saw battle for favouritism in the Mayfowl Cup with the former ultimately being the bookies' choice. Top-weight Badge of Gold called the shots till the distance post where Pesi Shroff-schooled Arktouros took over the running. Patrick Quinn's Samarkhand essayed his challenge at that point and the duo went hammer and tongs down the straight. Arktouros somehow scraped home, thanks to some power riding by Alford. Priapus was seen finishing on impressively along the rails. This being a terms race, the blanket finish cannot be credited to the handicapper.

Alford opened his account with Bath-trained Eternal Spirit in the curtain-raiser — the Archer Cup. Blood Rayne once again played bridesmaid, but nevertheless kept his bank account ticking, which is always helpful for a small stable.

The afternoon's most conspicuous withdrawal was Little Mombo in the upper division of the Deep Water Blues Handicap. The withdrawal threw the race wide open. Patrick Quinn-trained Great heart made a start-to-finish affair of the six-furlong sprint in the hands of Surjeet Singh.

From that point onwards, it was all Christopher Alford. The win of Vijay Singh-schooled Romantic Tactics was truly incredible. The fashionably bred colt by Placerville out of Native Tactics literally left the field standing when asked for an effort by his rider. It was only the colt's second outing of his career. There's no doubt that more will be heard of him in the near future when he participates in the local classics. At this stage, it would be unwise to gauge his potential but it would be fair to say that the handsome bay is best backed till beaten. Despite it being a little premature perhaps, one can't help but state that there's shades of Elusive Pimpernel in this 'ruthless wonder'. A late start to his career which took off with two effortless victories in mile races is a truly remarkable beginning. Admaris continued from where he had left off. Like most of the other runners thus far this season, he took the penalty for his last win in his stride and picked up the Fire Flash Handicap without much ado. Tracking the front-runners till the bend, Admaris strolled away despite a crushing impost. The best of the rest was She's Bak On Track.

Talking about taking penalties in their stride, Quantum of Solace ought to take the top prize. He notched up his fourth consecutive victory in barely three weeks and took his rating from 37 at the start of the season to 80-plus, which is the highest category. Considering the turmoil that this centre went through during the last two months, one can't really blame the handicapper for this shortcoming, if it can be called that.

Vijay Singh, who trains Quantum of Solace , wrapped up the proceedings with Quantico who won the six furlong sprint for the Moon Fairy Handicap in style. The red-and-gold colours of Deepak Khaitan were prominent throughout the afternoon and the quality of the horseflesh in his yard is without doubt a cut above. None of the other runners from any of the other leading stables have made any kind of impression on the red-and-golds.

This review would not be complete without a word of praise for the veteran starter (with a wealth of experience behind him) who handled the large fields with aplomb. One can't recall when one last saw a 17-horses field at this centre.