Cooji Katrak trained Shivalik Showers who has proved to be a late bloomer, recorded his third straight win by staving off the challenge of old rival Tatiana to clinch the Gr 3 RWITC Ltd Turf Championship, a rich terms race for four year olds and over, the feature event of Sunday`s races. This half brother to the celebrated Excclerbration won the race in his patented aggressive front running style.

The dam of Shivalik Showers, Sun Showers was bought at Goff`s sales by Hazara Stud Farm for a modest price. The first foal of Sun Showers was Ascot Prince who began promisingly but faded out of the scene due to setback. After the previous produce of Sun Showers namely Excclerbration turned out to be the second best horse in Europe next only to the legendary Frankel, Sun Showers was bought back by the Coolmore stud and re-exported when carrying the foal of Rebuttal. Shivalik Showers thus definitely enjoyed hype. He ran behind Illidan in his first outing at Pune before putting daylight between himself and the rest in his next outing. He surely lacked the experience for the big plums of the season in Mumbai but has steadily lived up to his pedigree with his last three gutsy efforts performing in Graded race company quite impressively. His best win to-date has been the success in Sunday`s race.

Multi-classic winner Alaindair was expected to bounce back to winning ways despite the weight he was conceding. Shivalik Showers was taken on a start to finish mission by Sandesh and though he was strongly challenged by Tatiana all the way in the final furlong, the former held on to a slight lead and refused to budge as he headed home. Alaindair flattered to deceive as he produced a good burst of speed which looked good enough to take him past the front runners but after giving hopes, he raced flat.

Bezan Chenoy trained Zana had won over six furlongs with almost a last to first effort in her last outing. The one-sided support on this daughter of Multidimensional was not entirely unexpected. Yet again Zana came from way off the pace and had the race well sewn up long way from home in the 1400 metres Jayant M Shah Plate, a race for horses rated 20 to 46 where the jockeys were not allowed to carry the whips. Ancient Treasure who did the front running till displaced by the eventual runner, stayed on to finish second ahead of late rallying Cool Runnings.

Cooji Katrak`s Melinda had finished second best on four occasions but her turn came in the 1200 metres J P Vazifdar Trophy (Div I), a race for horses rated 20 to 46. Sandesh took no chances with Melinda as he raced up with the field and the four year old filly had the race in command well before the final furlong. Tahrir who was subjected to a veterinary check before allowed to run came up with a late dash to finish third. Trainer Antia has always been the despair of punters and he proved yet again that he is in a league of his own when two long shots from his stable were involved in the photo finish for the lower division of the race. Ocean Star just about managed to put her neck in front of Sunshine Heart at the post to win at fancy odds. Nobody can say with conviction how Antia`s horses are going to perform including perhaps the trainer himself.

The betting for the 1400 metres Commanche Double Stakes, a race for horses rated 60 to 86 was centered around Congressional and Polydences both of whom disappointed with a timid performance. Simply Sweet who had let down expectations last time out, came up with a brilliant burst of speed in the final furlong to go storming clear of Polydences to record an emphatic win. Congressional ran a poor fourth.

Karthik Ganapathy trained Bold Appeal looked the best to win the 1600 metres Mulraj Goculdas Trophy, a race for maiden three year olds only, after his impressive run last time out. However, Bold Appeal took a long time to get the better of front running The Way I Am but by that time, Knight of Stars had warmed to the task and came home with a rush to win the race easily. Carma was third.

Sanjay Kolse trained Ukulele managed to pull it off in the 1400 metres Atmosphere Plate4, a race for lowest rated horses with a start to finish effort. In doing so, the filly rolled over to the rails which blocked the way for Iridescence who was forcing her way through a difficult passage. Iridescence who was squeezed out of the race finished third behind Rocking who got the runner up berth by a whisker. Sandesh tried to gain a place higher by putting the objection against apprentice Sunil who rode the winner for interference but the same was overruled.

D D Pillai brought off a quite touch on War Princess who bolted to the front from the word `go` and held off the late flourish of Black Bean to land the spoils in the 1000 metres Kazakh Plate, a race for horses in the lowest category. There are too many races framed in Mumbai for the lowest category races which are surely diminishing the interest in racing at this time of the year.