Trainer Patrick Quinn`s long shot, Major Colours, scored an exciting victory, over another friendless runner, Aithops, in the 1,200m Steinlen Cup, the main attraction in Wednesday`s race card. Major Colours was not the only one to play a spoil sport in the day`s seven-event card. The afternoon also witnessed many bolts from the blue and to add to the punters` woe, trainer Dipak Karki`s Running Thunder, the piping hot favourite, dislodged his rider, Imran Chisty, no sooner the starter gave the `go` signal to the 11 runners lined for the 1,200m Arcade Handicap. Chisty is learnt have suffered multiple leg injuries and the jockey is sure to be out of action, until the year-end. The race was won by trainer Arti Doctor`s Flash, a 12-1 chance in the betting.

The other hot favourites who also failed were trainer Vijay Singh`s Scarletta and Alcander, besides Divine Dimension, a 9-4 favourite in the feature event. All three runners were partnered by the champion jockey Christopher Alford. Arti Doctor`s pair of hot fancies, too, delivered hard blows with the visiting P. Kamlesh caught napping, on the 4-10 favourite, Climber, in the 1,100m Jeweller Handicap, followed it by pitiful performance of the Lady trainer`s Essenza, an 18-10 prime public choice, who turned out to be a mere passenger in the Everynsky Handicap, an 1,800m trip, which the favourite never relished.

Major Colours was given purposeful ride by an under-rated jockey Surjeet Singh who had the Arabian Gulf son settle in the mid-division before pouncing on to the leader Aithops, who had build up a sizeable lead inside the last furlong of the race. In the same race, the Vijay-trained Divine Dimension was never in the race, gracing the field with tail enders. However, the Javed Khan`s first timer, Glamorous Glory, was a good third, the berth the Major Impact son occupied almost from the start of the race.

Vijay`s plight started with the defeat of his 9-20 hot-properties, Scartella, in the 1,600m Dominate Handicap. The workouts of the Novere filly have never been encouraging and it hardly came a surprise when the horse proved no match for Kwan Yin who was eased up a long way from home to make the one-length defeat of the piping favourite, flattering.

Vijay`s Alcander, in contrast, was a bottled-up fourth behind the friendless winner, Divine Symphony, in the 1,100m Avaglow Handicap. The public-choice, galloped close to the early leader, Hurricane Star, and he also had a brush with the lead. However, Warrshan son could never get clear of the opposition, allowing the topweighted Grande Dame to creep closer before Divine Dimension and the lowly weighted Apical Finala jumped in to the fray. The end-result was Divine Dimension toppling them all by a narrow margin with Apical Finala and Grande Dame edging out the favourite in the blanket finish.

Arti hasn`t been having a great season with her small string. A double for the trainer looked almost certain but jockey P. Kamlesh being a little over-confident on the last outing`s runaway winner, Climber, paid the price dearly in the 1,100m Jeweller Handicap. Adding to Kamlesh`s discomfiture was the 1,100m scurry which the topweighted horse found a trifle sharp. The 4-10 horse favourite tried to win from the start with a narrow lead and the Arabian Gulf son almost delivered the good, until Sham Habbu`s long shot, Carnival Point, got into the rhythm, coming as a bolt from the blue to catch the jockey and the public choice napping. Jockey Shailesh Shinde, on Carnival Point, was seen working hard on the winner from the 600m marker but the desired respond came only in the final furlong. Kamlesh, however, did get his hands and heels and whip in action but it was only in the last 30m or 40m of the race when the damage was almost done.

Arti`s Essenza never had things going his way in the Everynsky Handicap. The horse was being trusted over the middle distance for the first time and he clearly detested the trip. It was trainer Vijay Singh`s

Adelino who displayed his penchant for the trip, having let down on numerous occasions over sprints in the past. Galloping in the fifth berth early in the race, the Steinbeck son rushed into the lead, 800m from home to give Shinde a virtual cushy ride.

Lady luck finally smiled on Arti and her visiting, Kamlesh, but thanks to the hot favourite Running Thunder unseating his jockey at the start of the 1,200 Arcade Handicap. Arti`s Flash recorded back-to-back victory, having build up a two-length lead from the start which could not be narrowed by anyone in the opposition.

Trainer Shaiq Khan`s youngster, Winnertakeitall, was the other one who won from the start. In the 1,200m Idaho Handicap, the Equitable son established a two-length lead over the 17-10 favourite, Ambicka, and he never looked back.