Trainer Vijay Singh`s three in a row winner, Flavius, walked into the winner`s enclosure, once again. The five-year-old asserted his superiority, yet again, against his four rivals lined up in the 1,600m RCTC Riding & Apprentice Jockey School Cup, Tuesday`s main attraction in six-event card. Ridden from the front, by Christopher Alford, the top-weighted five-year-old horse toyed with the opposition on his way to the victory, over Beyond Expectation, and Sunshine Girl -- the even-money favourite. The afternoon also witnessed Imran Chisty`s returing to the winners` enclosure, after nearly six months of lay off to recovere a fractured leg. The gutsy jockey helped trainer Manvendra Singh notch up a priced double, giving the impression that his ordeal, after the injurious fall from Running Thunder, was a thing of the past. The jockey`s brace of winners followed his good sense of judgement on Heirloom while the champion`s riding skills had him fully tested by Resolution.

Flavius, a 3-1 shot in the betting, was the next choice of the backers, after Sunshine, who boasted of matching strides with the Tiger Tops, in the Calcutta Oaks, after giving some anxious moments to Fly By The Wind in the 1000 Guineas. Sunshine Girl, the favourite, however, looked a bundle of nerves during the paddock-parade and it hardly came as a surprise when she refused to put her best foot forward, and placed a poor third while Beyond Expectation produced a spirited run to thrash the filly. Beyond Expectation was right behind the winner, almost throughout the journey, and also manage to add excitement at the finishing while he closed on to the winner, who was traveling a double-handful.

Chisty and Manvendra set the ball rolling from the curtain raiser, the 1,600m Star Magic Handicap. Heirloom, a 5-2 chance in the betting, was ridden well off the pace, as Vijay`s Argalia (Shailesh Shinde) and her stable-mate, Native Speaker C. Alford) -- a 13-10 public-choice, led by turns. However, the favourite had no answer to the challenge of Heirloom who covered the ground rapidly 600m from home, before having the measure of the leader inside the last furlong.

Resolution attracted very little support in the betting at 6-1 but was put to his task by Chisty right from the word ‘go`, in the 1,200m Arteas Handicap, in which trainer Errol Bhungard`s Sylvana and Javed Khan`s Conquest rode the public money at 13-10 and 9-4 respectively. However, the speedy Resolution and Chisty had other ideas. The determined challengers lasted out in their mission to succeed, from the start of the race, though Conquest was seen closing up to Resolution in the final furlong but he fell short by a long-neck at the wire. Sylvana, on the other hand, was also looking very nervous in her paddock parade and was never in a serious contention as she was seen losing out her favourable postion, midway through the journey. It was trainer Vikash Jaiswal`s Mister Positive who gained the third berth, coming the shortest way home from the mid-bunch to placed a close third.

Jaiswal`s I Me N Myself had, however, come good half-an-hour earlier in the 1,400m Fair Haven Handicap. Pitted against a very poor opposition, jockey Sandeep Rajput had the filly settled behind the stable`s top-weighted runner, Eternal Instinct, who had played a spoilsport in their previous clash. Showing no urgency, until the distance-post, Rajput sent the 3-1 chance in the betting into the lead and the filly drew away from the field. The 16-10 public-choice, Ever Green (N.S. Parmar) was a leisurely third in the race while trainer Shyam Habbu`s Layla was an impressive second, coming from way behind and covering as many as 20 lengths in the home stretch.

Trainer Harvinder Bath` Spyro hit hard in the 1,400m Aemilia Plate for the maiden youngsters. The Glory Of Dancer-Catherine Linton daughter made a virtual start-to-finish attempt to provide the trainer and her jockey, P. Kamlesh, a handsome victory over Vijay Secret Society who was mostly up with the winner till about 300m from home when Spyro kicked clear. Much was expected from Habbu`s Sthenios and Bharath`s Yokumoku but the two horses galloped in the mid-division throught the journey without doing anything worthwhile. In the same race, Manvendra`s Scarborough was an improving third in the race and bears watching.

Javed`s Petaloid, who could boast of some form in the nine-horse field of the 1,100m Fastnet Handicap, delivered the goods at 4-1 while Bharath`s Ice Fantasy carried most of the wagering at 2-1. Ice Fantasy was in contention, until the home turn where her innings ended. In The twilkight, who was also among the front-runners, managed to place a close behind the winner as Jaiswal`s long-shot Passionate aspired to upset all calculations but failed to proceed beyond the third berth.