Trainer Vijay Singh`s hot favourite Adabella`s victory in feature-event, the 1,200m Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) Cup, on Wednesday, was welcomed by a sizeable race crowd but the well-bred filly`s winning effort, in the hands of jockey Shailesh Shinde, was, in no way, a game-changer. Adabella`s had scored late in the evening, leaving little scope for the battered punters to recover their losses incurred in earlier events, which threw up the end-season surprises. Punters by that time had lost faith in the abilities of favourites, who performed well below expectations. Betting coups wee aplenty but, mercifully, big stables were not involved. Punters lost but apprentice Azharuddin gained. The apprentice finished the day with a priced double, which could have been a well-earned treble, had he used his head, atop the 7-4 favourite, Goliath, in the 1,600m Cradle Of The Deep Handicap.

Nevertheless, the first thing first: Adabella`s victory was clean, though Shailesh had to push her hard, to make the Multidimensional-Serrafina daughter move and counter the serious challenge from the top-weighted Bullet. Held back in the fourth berth behind the early leaders -- Aerator, Raznandan and Bullet – till 250m from home, the 7-10 hot property made her move on the wide out of the tiring leaders to score, over Bullet, albeit under pressure, by a shade under a length.

Azharuddin started of his winning campaign on the Daniel David`s Afrah, in the 1,600m Zeeba Handicap. It was a business-like victory as the filly took a smart jump out to settle in fourth behind Jassi`s Star, Stupid Cupid and Combined Operation who made the early running. In the home run, Afrah was seen gaining ground on the wide out and was spotted as a winner below the distance post. The winner, though tiring in the end, had something in her reserve to stop Fire Angel, a late mover, at the all important end. In the same race the 2-1 favourite, Tasveer, lost all her chances at the gates.

The apprentice, however, needs to complimented for his clever riding on trainer Harvinder Bath`s filly, Lantana Lady, who was taken to a start-to-finish mission in the 2,000m San Francisco Handicap, which also witnessed trainer Vijay Singh`s Exclusive Colours going to the start as a 13-10 favourite. Azharuddin took the 7-1 chance to a pillar-to-post mission, slowing down the pace to necessity after the first three furlongs. The apprentice also remembered to give his charge the breather, 800m from home, at which point the field was seen closing up. However, Lantana Lady kicked away again in the stretch run to score easily. In this context, it is also significant thing to mention that the favourite was running his sixth long distance race in five weeks.
In-between his two winning efforts, Azharuddin threw away a certain race on Goliath. Held back behind the two leaders, Noble Defender and Highly Explosive till approaching the home turn, the apprentice had no reason to come outside of Noble Defender, who is known to shift out alarmingly at the final turn. Azharuddin realized his folly quickly but the scenario had changed equally fast as trainer Arti Doctor`s Tintoretto was seen shooting into the winning lead, having made a rapid progress along the rails from the rear of the field.

Trainer Vikash Jaiswal`s top-weighted runner, No Looking Back (Imran Chisty-up) recorded a courageous performance, leading the three-year-old horse to a smart victory in the 1,400m Beat The Distance Handicap. Racing in the mid-division of the 12-horse field, the 8-1 chance was quick to be third in the final stretch and gained ground on the wide out to win from Vijay`s Ace Glory (Shailesh) and Harvinder Bath`s Windbreaker (Kishore Kadam). In the same race, Arti`s 7-4 favourite, too, was up with early leaders – Arion, Windbreaker, Desert Fox and Sreeputra, but the Chevalier daughter failed to make a headway as the race progressed. She may, however, benefit from this run.

Everything went in favour of Vikash` 8-1 outsider, Stiling Veil (Md Islam-up), in the curtain raiser, the 1,400m Fire Flash Handicap while the trainer`s other runner, I Command, was in demand at 4-1. In the eight-horse field, I Command, lost about eight lengths at the start, River Down Empress dropped her rider within two furlong of the gates and Crafty Lady was ridden awfully by the visiting jockey M. Krishna. Therefore, the stage was set for the victory of Stiling Veil.