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Trainer Vijay Singh's in-form youngster, Court Jester (Hindu Singh-up) scored yet another decisive victory on Friday, the colt’s third in-a-row. In fact, the trainer-jockey combinations ruled the six-event card, from the very start of the afternoon to end up the day with a popular treble. Trainer Shyam Habbu’s Yahalla (Akash Rjput) was the only other favourite who scored while the rest of events could be literally bracketed as long knives.
Court Jester's four-length-plus victory, in the Mr Mauritius Handicap, was not only fluent but an authoritative one, too. Held back in-third behind Namak Halaal (Afzal Khan) and Kilkarry Bridge (R.S. Bhati); until 300m from home, the winner, an even-money favourite, simply drew away from the opposition.
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Vijay's winning spree stated right from the start of the day's programme when his 5/2 favourite, Little Finger, provided the hattrick seekers a narrow
victory over trainer Daniel David’s Eastside (app Sujit Paswan) in the 1,100m Setaflame Handicap. Little Finger looked like having a march over the opposition but a late surge in the final 100m made jockey Hindu’s task slightly tougher. In the same race, an almost equally fancied trainer Shafiq Khan’s runner, Viareggio (Sameer Khan) produced an erratic run after being right behind leaders, early in the race. The six-year-old mare is learnt to have burst blood vessels. For the records, the winner and the lowly weighted Shivalik Silk (Rupal Singh) were seen dictating terms from the start of the race.
Vijay-Hindu were back in the winners enclosure, following another easy victory of Cliffhanger in the 1,600m Nationalistic Handicap, a 6/4 favourite who galloped in the mid-division but produced a strong finishing effort in the home straight to take the measure of the start-to-finishing stable-mate, Resolute Nikhil Naidu).
The 1,200mn Gold Kale Handicap, the baby race, was won by Bharath Singh’s Agnostic (app Paswan) who had an easy measure of Vijay’s even-money favourite, Dandi Satyagraha (Hindu). Early in the race, Agnostic had almost brought the field down with his erratic run and the chief sufferers were Vijay’s Roman (Naidu) and Vikash Jaiswal’s last outing runaway winner, Yuvi. Anyway, the field settled down after the first 300m, leaving the Dandi in command over Yuvi as Agnostic was third while Roman out of the reckoning. The tiring Dandi and Yuvi paved way to Agnostic’s victory who was brought the shortest way home to lead in the final furlong for a four-length-plus victory.
Trainer Habbu's Yahalla (Rajput) had failed narrowly after her Derby Day victory. However, the Arazan filly repaid losses in the Brave Gesture Handicap, having an easy measure of Manvendra Singh-trained Wind Chaser (app P. Vikram) and Shafiq Khan’s Think Big. The two place prospects came on the scene late as the early part the 1,400m journey was dominated by Aashay Doctor’s Coup de Grace (app Tajeshwar) and the western India migrant Isle Of Skye (Naidu).
Trainer Javed Khan hasn't been fairing well of late but the victory of his long-shot 1,600m Brave Patriach Handicap was welcome news for the stable. The five-year-old mare came with an electrifying run in the final 250 to chew up the long time leaders, Elusive Wave (Shezad Khan), Criteria (app Tajeshwar) and Rustler (Rupal Singh). The two fancied runners in the race, Vijay’s Dothraki (Hindu) and Vikash Jaiswal’s Wandering Angel) found their rhythm late to occupy the remunerative berths.
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Little Finger (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Setaflame Handicap
Agnostic (Sujit Kr Paswan up) winner of the Gold Kale Plate
Court Jester (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Mr Mauritius Handicap
Yahalla (Akash Rajput up) winner of the Brave Gesture Handicap
Cliffhanger (Hindu Singh up) winner of the Nationalistic Handicap
Xile (Sujit Kr Paswan up) winner of the Brave Patriach Handicap
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