For the first time in his career, Arts (Ontario – Shanley) showed consistency when outclassing a string of heavyweights in the McDowell Signature Turf Club Trophy (Gr.3) on Sunday. The Sohna Stud Farm bred four year old Arts beat a string of highly reputed horses. Like in the country elsewhere, rains had been lashing the city for a couple of days forcing the authorities to make use of the monsoon track. Despite a big field of fifteen, the race failed to provide any fireworks as none of the frontline contenders, Forest Flair, Juventus or D`Artagnan, relished the surface and the underfoot conditions.

Regardless, the C. D. Katrak trained and Sohna Stud Farms bred colt was kept in close touch of Portrush and Spirituall by Suraj Narredu. The order of running didn`t experience any material except for some churning in the places of those chasing the frontrunners. Both Portrush and Spirituall couldn`t meet the challenge thrown at them by Arts who sped past them in a jiffy for a quick encore this season. Spirituall and Portrush followed Arts home while Astral Flash edged out Cabriolet for the minor place.

	Arts (Suraj Narredu up), winner of the McDowell Signature Turf Club Trophy (Gr.3), being led in by trainer Mr. C D Katrak

In a one-of-a-kind incident, Running Bull who had his fore-leg cast in the gate was euthanized but not before his leg was amputated to free him from the misery.

In a somewhat similar and unprecedented event witnessed in the Hurricane Plate, rider Stephane Ladjadj from France was seized by a delusion about Neeraj Rawal astride Takestwototango deliberately changing course and putting the chances of his mount Tequila in peril. Without blinking an eyelid, Stephane just caught hold of Neeraj and pushed him into the rails. Tequila went on to win the race but was disqualified after Stephane`s riding was judged foul by the Stewards. The decision no doubt was arguable it would`ve been an unforgivable act from the Stewards if they had let off Stephane after what he did in full public view. So, he got what he deserved. Yes people were arguing that why penalise Tequila`s owner for Stephane`s mistake. Well, it was a classic case of ‘you win some you lose some` and lets rest it at that.

As for the actual running of the race, favourite Sun Elegance was eased off by Suraj after spearheading the field for a brief while and dropped off in the process. He never recovered to make any impact and caused a lot of money to go down the drain. Takestwototango suffered a saddle slip as everyone who has seen the race know. Saqib Shaikh trained Cloud Cover (Royal Gladiator – Cloud Nine) got a gift race on Tequila`s disqualification. Belligerent, Divine and Red Dragon too were promoted to find a place behind the winner in that order.

Stephane ended his day in shambles after a brilliant start atop Super King (Warrshan – Star Gift), the Narendra Lagad trainee who got up just in time to halt the victory march of apprentice D. Akkshay ridden Scenic Silver.

The French rider later gave a forgettable ride to Appalina, who was seeking an encore but was outpaced throughout and ended pathetically in the rear. Debutant Blue Knight (Placerville – Blurr) from Pesi Shroff`s yard put in a sustained run when urged by Malcolm Kharadi and hunted down Classic Ruler Tattenhoe and Chotee Begum close home. The last named ended runner-up while Silver Soul ran on to be third ahead of Classic Ruler, who has had a good lung-opener.

Dallas Todywalla schooled White Knight (Placerville – Shamaal) cashed in on the inability of the hot favourite Cambiasso`s inability to cope with the monsoon track and also the lack of a run. Dashrath Singh rode White Knight vigorously to keep Cambiasso at bay.

Dashrath completed a double when Khursaniyah (Senure – Shahandeh) just about managed to evade Tamarai over the scurry for maiden debutants. The Faisal Abbas trained Khursaniyah and Tamarai were involved in a duel soon after the latter joined her rival, who was off to a flying start from the gates. N. S. Parmar was not harsh on Tamarai till the end and nursed the filly as the winner started to shorten her strides. It was the winning post which came to the rescue of the favourite in the end. Elizabeth ran third while Sunlight Magic gave a flop show.

A resolute piece of riding from P. Kamlesh helped the on-money favourite Amoresque (Mr Mellon – Complimentary) nail the runaway leader Zafayona on the post. Delphi retired after disputing the issue with Zafayona till entering the home stretch while Supreme Force, who is bred as full brother to Forest Flair, ran on leisurely to finish fourth.

Suraj was another rider to complete a brace of winners when the Katrak trained grey filly Mia Stella (Verglas – Constantia) showed her true colours. All it took was a piece of blinkers for Mia Stella to power her way out of the maiden ranks. And to think that she was languishing in the rear just ten days back when installed as the favourite and here she was up with the pace all through the mile journey. Pound Foolish chased the winner in vain while Roses All The Way finished a tame third ahead of Sing Along, who received interference at the start from the winner`s ownermate Accurize.

Arbudh (Royal Kingdom – Musical Pepper) provided B. Prakash a rare winner when the Uday Bhan Singh trained aged gelding came with a powerful run to pounce upon Sol and Anemos. Arbudh then stretched out to win from the late-finishing Satsuma Star.