Alcazaba proved she is still the Queen of Nuwara Eliya Race course, with her gallant win, which gave her the spotlight back and the RTC Magic Million Cup in the Horse Racing Festival 2021 finale event held under strict health guidelines on Saturday.

The overall outcome was far from what was witnessed on 15th of April, at the Governor’s Cup race day. Winners of the prestigious race day, , failed to impress in the five-race event held this weekend and were beaten by some of the traditional winners, who dominated the Nuwara Eliya race course.

Alcazaba was an easy pick out of the five winners, so were Another Ace and Vigorous. Stormont and Krabi were surprises.

Strangely running in an almost empty racecourse, Alcazaba lived up to her potential to outclass Spirited Touch and Western Wind to win the RTC Magic Million Cup, for horses of Class 1 in a race of 1600metres. Owned by the Edwards Stable, trained by S.D. Mahesh and ridden by jockey J. Chinoy,

Alcazaba proved that she is the Queen of Nuwara Eliya, beating two of the top contenders in Class 1, who had outsmarted her earlier. They were Spirited Touch, the 2019 Governor’s Cup winner and Western Wind, who claimed the Governor’s Cup nine days ago in a race that had a similar thrill.

The Jayaratne Stable, who had a brilliant outing at the RTC Governor’s Cup Race day on April 15, however, won the Sporting Star Cup, the Class 2 race of 1600meters and placed second in two races.

Their main win came through Another Ace, who made a brilliant gallop in the final furlong to claim a thrilling win by half-a-length. Ridden by jockey Vivek and owned by Hasanga Jayaratne, Another Ace took away a possible win from Silver Streak, who looked well set for deserving victory, as Santos finished close behind at third by another quarter length.

Vigorous, ridden by S. Dineshraj, claimed the Sri Lanka Insurance Motorplus Cup, the Class 3 1600metre race in the opening race of the day. It was a three-way battle Olive and Honorious had to settle in at second and third, as Vigorous proved a point with the inspiring win. After the thrilling finish on the Governor’s Cup Race day in the same race class, a heated competition was expected between Glittering and Vigorous, who was edged out in the final furlong to finish first and second respectively. However Glittering could not start the race despite reaching the starting gate.

Starmont with J. Chinoy, claimed a thrilling finish ahead of Night King and Torpedo to win the Sri Lanka Insurance Cup for Class 4 horses in the 1400metre race.

Results-RTC Magic Million Cup (Class 1 – Group 1 – 1600m)-*Winner-Alcazaba (J. Chinoy/S.D. Mahesh/Edwards Stables), Runner-Up-Spirited Touch (Aneel/S.V. Mathialagan/Fearless Stables and Stud Farms), Third place-Western Wind (Vivek/Sridher Selvaratnam/Mr. and Mrs. Gamini Jayaratne)

Sporting Star Cup (Class 2 – Group 2 – 1600m)-winner- *Another Ace (Vivek/Sridher Selvratnam/Hasanga Jayaratne), runner-up- Silver Streak (L. Dayalan/S.D. Mahesh/Ramsis Peter Fernando)*, third place-Santos (J. Chinoy/S.D. Mahesh/Edwards Stables)

SLIC MotorPlus Cup (Class 3 – 1600m)-winner- Vigorous (S. Dineshraj/Jayantha Wijesinghe/Ajantha de Soyza), runner Up- Olive (K. Sanjeewan/S.V. Mathialagan/Fearless Stables and Stud Farm), third place-Honorious (Aneel/S.V. Mathialagan/Fearless Stables and Stud Farm)

Sri Lanka Insurance Cup (Class 4 – 1400m)-winner- *Stormont (J. Chinoy/S.D. Mahesh/Edwards Stables) runner Up-Night King (V. Yogaraj/Sridher Selvaratnam/Ms. Nishara Jayaratne),* third Place-Torpedo

(K. Sanjeewan/S.V. Mathialagan/Fearless Stables and Stud Farm)

DailyMirror Cup (Class 5 – 1400m)-winner- Krabi (K. Naidu/S.D. Mahesh/Dr. Dhanawardene Guruge), runner Up-*Waiting for Glory (R. Vaibhav/Sridher Selvaratnam/Mr. Hasanga Jayaratne), third place-*Goldie Girl (J. Chinoy/S.D. Mahesh/Edwards Stables) (A.N.)