The Calcutta winter racing meet, which concluded last Friday, witnessed a definite improvement over earlier seasons on several fronts. The superior quality of thoroughbreds and elevated level of competition were a couple of improvements welcomed by form-workers. The increase in stake money served a long way in securing larger fields this winter and this in turn was partly responsible for the competitive factor injected into the races.
Sired by Mr. Mellon out of Countess of Poland, the strongly built bay colt Regal Connection proved to be the 'horse of the season'. He had never traversed more than a mile prior to his Derby triumph. But he proved his detractors wrong when Christopher Alford brought this Vijay Singh ward with a fluent run in the straight. While his subsequent effort in the Indian Derby is best forgotten, the prize property of Deepak Khaitan redeemed himself with a spectacular gallop in the Invitation Cup where he finished a good second to Sweeping Success.
As for Classic Sky, she was clearly the best filly at this centre, as she notched up a classic double without much ado — the 1000 Guineas and the Oaks.
Among the three-year-olds, Rutherford Alford-trained Lycia Falcon created quite a stir when he came a flying second to Arcology in the Indian Champagne Stakes. He stamped his superiority with a magnificent triumph in the Calcutta Million in the hands of the vastly experienced Mallesh Narredu. Rutherford has been restricted to a wheelchair after the nasty fall he suffered. RCTC granted him a trainer's licence this season and the victory of the 'Falcon' proved to be quite a shot in the arm for this young trainer who finished the season in great style when his Desire Lad made it three wins from three outings.
The season also witnessed several imports from Mumbai which made the local lot look rather pedestrian. Trainer Bath's Master Coup lived up to his name when his connections backed him heavily on his last two winning runs that completed a successful hat trick.
A couple of runners from Aarti Doctor's yard proved their worth in gold. These were the filly Supreme Attraction and Apostrophe. Several local trainers were unhappy, as they felt the penalties imposed on these outstation runners were not sufficient and such 'migrant runners' were killing the chances of the local stock that were clearly inferior. While their complaint was not unjustified, it is also a fact that fresh blood from western India undoubtedly raised the standard of racing here.
The handicapper did a pretty neat job on the whole with as many as 48 percent of verdicts being less than one-and-half lengths. Fifteen percent of races saw photo-finishes.
There were very few false starts during the season and the starter's vast experience went a long way in keeping his slate clean.
The stipes too showed that they meant business when they came down heavily on champion jockey Christopher Alford after he lost a certain race atop Arcology, running in the Goolagong Plate.
On the flip side, the lack of sponsors for the big races (including the Derby) robbed much of the glamour from these sweepstake events. Despite this, New Year's Day and Derby Day attracted large crowds. The totalisator manager reported lucrative turnovers on these afternoons.
This season's summary would not be complete without a word of praise for the Jaiswals and Karkis of this centre who did an admirable job with aged runners such as El Cid and Sea Legend. Their modus operandi to combat the big guns has to be appreciated.
Vijay Singh bagged the trainers' championship while Christopher Alford topped the jockeys' leaderboard.
The Times of India won the RCTC Tipsters Cup at this year's Calcutta winter meet.
