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The visiting horse Governor General (A.Sandesh-up), from western India trainer M.K. Jadhav`s stable, scored a narrow victory, over Vijay Singh`s champion galloper, Multitude (Neeraj Rawal) in the 1,400m Mayfowl Cup, Friday`s main attraction in the eight-event card. However, Neeraj was at his best on Vijay`s two Classic aspirants – Shivansh and Sniper – who won their respective events while jockey Nikhil Naidu helped the trainer notch-up a treble, his first in the new season. Jockey Hindu Singh and trainer James McKeown were also among winner as they helped themselves with a double apiece.
Governor General`s 8-kg pull at the weights was expected to be a major factor and it turned out to be so. Yet Multitude offered a stiff resistance in the final furlong after Castlebridge (Y.S. Srinath), the 5/2 joint-favourite with the winner, but found his heavy impost a stopper. The early pace set by Amorous White (P.S. Chauhan), was perhaps, too hot to tackle for Castlebridge.
The General and Multitude, on the other hand, were always a handy fourth or fifth, as they pounced on the tiring leaders, including Castlebridge, for a show down.
The 1,400m Cavalry Cup was, however, an easy pick for Sniper, a 16/10 favourite. The victory of the Kingda Ka colt, over the other three-year-olds in the nine-horse field – Sheer Force (app. R.S. Bhati) and Lumenac (Srinath) --, however, lacked fluency. Each was separated by a length but three of them have quite a scope for improvement before their main target the 2000 Guineas.
Shivansh`s victory, in the 1,600m Star Flame Handicap was, comparatively, impressive. The RCTC`s Derby frontrunner was 6/10 hot favourite, and Neeraj rode a clean race on the colt who was marginally hanging-in as he followed his stable-mate, Splash Proof (Naidu) almost from the start; until about 200m from the winning-post.
Trainer Bharath Singh, too, had his day planned but things did not go his way. The defeat of Caslebridge in the big event, and also of Lumenac, in the competitive set up, stared at his face, after a brilliant victory, early in the afternoon, of Oak Brook (Srinath), in the upper division of the 1,200m Citibank Handicap left the stable quite charged up.
Bharth`s Bergamot`s (Dashrath Singh) narrow defeat, in the 1,100m Young Lady Handicap at the hands of a rank-outsider, Mahasuvi (Hindu) was shocking. Realistically, it was always going to be a difficult task for the Strong Suit filly to notch up an easy win in Class III, from a 13 draw. The speedster`s progress, from the wide out to the inner rails, was also delayed considerably, thereby, loosing much ground.
She did manage to go into the lead, 200m from home but failed to arrest the inspired gallop of James McKeown`s charge who had returned to the track after about eight months.
McKeown`s 2/1 favourite, Viareggio`s (Hindu) was a run-of-the-mil victory in the lower division of the 1,200m Citibank Handicap. Held back far behind a runaway Eastern Flame and Happy Returns, Viareggio covered plenty of ground on the wide out to score over the other late comers, Chitrakala and Artificial. The may win again.
The day`s opener, the 1,600m Adelita Handicap and the concluding event, the 1,400m Noble Fairy Handicap, were picked up by long shots. Jasbir Singh`s Poras (Mohit Singh) produced an electrifying run from way back to win the curtain raiser, in a tight-finish, involving Vijay`s Duchamp (Sandesh) while Smith And Wesson (Naidu) to helped swell Vijay`s kitty to three at the end of the day.
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Poras (Mohit Singh up) winner of the Adelita Handicap
Oak Brook (Y S Srinath up) winner of the Citibank Handicap (Div-I)
Viareggio (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Citibank Handicap(Div-II)
Mahasuvi (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Young Lady Handicap
Shivansh (Neeraj Rawal up) winner of the Star Flame Handicap
Sniper (Neeraj Rawal up) winner of the Cavalry Cup
Governor General (A Sandesh up) winner of the Mayfowl Cup
Smith And Wesson (Nikhil Naidu up) winner of the Noble Fairy Handicap
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