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| After being struck by ‘Pyrexia of an unknown origin’ (PUO) in October
2008, RCTC ensured a quick recovery for the protagonists of the game to get the season underway on New Year’s Day. Many were apprehensive about the manner in which the senior steward and chairman Cyrus Madan was pushing for a quick start on the first day of the New Year – traditionally a big day for the socialites at this centre, but Madan proved that his decision was spot on. With the help of his team and the senior professionals, it was decided that New Year’s Day it will be. And hey presto! We were racing after all the tension and dilemma of the past two months. A truncated season it may have been, but the 25-day meeting saw the largest stake money offered in the Calcutta Derby. The Bangalore-based filly Abs Fabs made a complete mockery of the Derby field. Trainer Arjun Mangalorkar’s decision to make a late entry with fees of Rs 9 lakh was well worth it as the filly took home a handsome packet of Rs 68 lakh. Owner Pritham Basappa was pleasantly surprised by the stupendous performance put in by his filly. She stopped the clock at 2 min 28.789 sec for the mile-and-half classic, which was just outside the record set by Southern Empire during the Invitation Cup of 2007. Britisher Francis Norton kept the powerfully built bay in a handy second slot behind the pacemaker from the MAM-stable, Bountiful Talent. Nearing the 800-metre marker, he decided to loosen the reins of his mount. Thereafter, she galloped to a memorable victory by a widening margin of seven-and-half lengths from Raghuvansh who was easily the best of the rest. But Raghuvnsh, from Arti Doctor’s yard, was unfortunate enough to complete the season without a single win to his name. The New Year's Day races at the Calcutta racecourse turned out to be a grand success. A large gathering witnessed some excellent racing despite RCTC being handicapped by the attack of PUO that affected half the stable-strength nearly two months ago. The Club has sprung back into action in great style and the opening day saw a card of eight well-filled races. Four fillies warmed up early for the 1000 Guineas - on only the second race day. The quartet of fillies who were first past the winning post were Corfu (Razeen-Mikado), Crown Princess (China Visit-Run For The Crown), Grand Madame (Razeen-Averoff) and Arnatta (Placerville-Mitzvah). Not surprisingly, three of the four are owned by the leading barons of the turf -Dhunjibhoy, Mallya, and Ramaswamy respectively. However, the 1000 Guineas was ultimately pocketed by Safari who edged out the MAM ward Grand Madame by a narrow verdict. Despite this setback, Ramaswamy was by far the most successful owner of the season. His Grand Madame made amends in the Oaks while Noble View picked up the 2000 Guineas. They had yet to produce their ace which came in the form of Bountiful Talent in the St Leger. The rank outsider in the field of five made every post a winning one much to the chagrin of punters who backed Raghuvansh to the hilt. The latter poorly handled by Daniel Grant, other than which he would have been surely nearer at the finish. Thus, though Vijay Singh had the numbers in his favour at the end of the season, there was no doubt that it was Daniel David whose ‘quality control’ was superior. In fact, Vijay’s chief patrons, the Khaitans, failed to spear any of the big events. Jockey Christopher Alford enjoyed a highly successful season with winners but his choice Romantic Tactics in the Derby was out classed. The manner in which he recorded a hattrick had rightly prompted Alford to request the stable to take a shot at the Derby with a late entry fee. But then that’s racing. You win some and you lose some. The Ramaswamy yard also had a field season in the juvenile sector as the fillies Sound of Cheers and Cascades picked up five races between them. Some of the lesser names among the professionals like Bath, Stephens and Sarfaraz Khan showed great acumen to pick up races with relatively small strings. Man About Town’s hattrick deserves a mention as Sarfaraz placed his well-tuned ward brilliantly. Another lad who will be heard of in the future is young Jasbir Singh. So now, we have a long hiatus till the first week of July. Punters will nevertheless be kept busy with the Bangalore summer meeting scheduled to start in mid-May. |
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