Trainer Shaiq Khan`s Meekathara displayed his brilliance while making every post of the 1,400m of the Pa Bear Cup, a winning one, on Saturday. Neglected in the betting, in view of the youngster`s suspect credentials over the slated trip, the 6-1 chance, found the going easy, in the feature event, against trainer Vijay Singh`s 17-10 favourite Scartella, who chased the winner all the way but fell shy at the wire by a shade over a length. It was Meekathara`s back-to-back victory, having fare poorly during the monsoon season, thanks to his slightly dry coat.. Jockey N.S. Parmr partnered the three-year-old, by El Johar out of Hava Naglia, to victory. Vijay, who was expected to make a clean sweep of the seven-event card, managed to saddle a lone winner when his piping hot favourite, Acrider – ridden by Christopher Alford – trounced the opposition to claim the 1,600m Fame Star Handicap, named after the mare owned by his wife. Vijay`s other favourite, however, let down one after another, leaving the outsiders to have a free run. Alford on Acrider, a 4-10 hot favourite, allowed Abubble and Desert Fox to dictate the terms, till about 1,000m marker before taking the charge of the running to draw away from the field.

Vijay`s plight started from the curtain raiser, the 1,600m Silver Handicap, when his charge, Divine Dimension, found no support in the betting ring. The horse went to the start as a 9-4 favourite, having opened as 7-10, indicating all was not well with the Multidimensional youngster, ridden by apprentice Munna Alam. Divine Dimension displayed some urgency early in the race, in the company of Asian Rocket and Dance In Chine, but placed a tame third behind the ultimate winner, Ego Ego Ego -- trainer Vikash Jaiswal`s friendless runner, ridden by Md Sameer -- who was ridden the pace, and trainer Patrick Quinn`s less-fancied charge A`Ma Shukum.

The baby race, the 1,100m Ridicular Plate, provided Vijay the opportunity to re-organise himself but their filly, Sparkishly (Alford-up) – a full sister to Clear Opportunity --, performed listlessly, instead of showing the speed for she had been bred. On the other hand, it was left to trainer Robert Gowli`s charge, Gimme Credit, match strides with the other speedsters like Verena Rose and Sanjit till the final turn before taking over and score an emphatic victory over the two named debutantes. Sparkishly placed a leisurely fourth, indicating she needed the run.

Vijay`s Native Speaker (apprentice Alam) was another favourite who badly disappointed the favourite hunters, in the 1,200m Ich Dian Handicap. Trailing the field right ffrom the start, the Ivory Touch filly never appeared to be a danger to the early leader, Ambicka, Don Magnifico, Eternal Instict, and Sunny Side, leave alone the ultimate winner, Chhundu. The winner, from Harvinder Bath`s stable raced in the mid-division in the early half of the journey, but covered much ground in the final furlong to snatch the verdict from Don Magnifico and Ever Green who came the shortest way home to finish a good third.

Vijay`s Aculeus ran an honest race but found trainer Javed Khan`s Beyond Expectation and Bharath Singh`s Zegna, as better handicapped hoprses to beat. The three named runners had crossed sword early in the season and as a result of this Aculeus had gone up at the weights.

Another ideally handicapped horse, Burst of Stardust, from trainer Richard Alford`s stable, scored over Elusive Hurricane, in the 1,100m Sound Of Cheers Handicap, thanks to later`s wide out draw, and also, jockey Alford who never made a serious effort to position the Manvendra Singh-trained horse throughout the journey. Alford preferred to gallop his charge on 6 to 8 wide wide and lost the race narrowly.