After three days of Christopher Alford ruling the roost, the fourth day of the Calcutta races on Sunday saw Imran Chisty getting back in the groove with a marvellous quartet. He found his touch from the word go with Red Sails and brought the curtain down with Brilliant Victory.
In between these two winners, he managed to pick up the two plums of the day — The 1000 Guineas and the Mayfowl Cup. While Classic Sky appeared to make heavy weather of the season's first classic, Star Perfection was hard ridden by the retained rider of Daniel David's stable to a spectacular triumph. All four Chisty mounts were from the champion trainer's yard.
The running of the season's first classic saw the monsoon Fillies Trial winner Antonique call the shots till the bend where she was quite easily collared by Dallas Todywalla-trained Elusive Trust — a grey by Elusive Pimpernel out of Trustworthy. Chisty took the bend four wide atop Classic Sky and drifted out even further. However, the resolute galloper nevertheless spared three lengths to the Pune import who, it must be said, ran an impressive lung-opener.
By the terms of the race, the Mayfowl Cup should have been Aperitivo's for the asking. But it was not to be. Though the top-weight with Suraj Narredu astride stole a march on his nearest rival — Star Perfection, under Chisty's urgings the latter moved with gigantic strides in the final 100 metres to land the spoils. Both Salvatore and Moon Forest will benefit from the run.
Chisty's final ride, Brilliant Victory, caught everyone off-guard when he decided to make every post a winning one and succeeded handsomely. This was contrary to his style of winning during the monsoon.
Trainer Javed Khan and his patron Sudhir Ahuja notched up a double with Le Chaim and Royal Ballerina. Both runners were hard-ridden by Md. Islam to win the Balam Handicap and the BSF Trophy respectively.
