The presence of Imran Chisty at the Calcutta racecourse after quite a few weeks had his supporters ready to open their purse strings. A couple of his mounts closed as favourites and he further raised the hopes of punters when he pulled off a smashing victory atop One Man Army in the curtain-raiser, The Predator Handicap. Trainer Vikash Jaiswal had three runners in the starting line-up with jockeys Chisty, Rajinder and brother Vinay guiding their fortunes. But it was Rajinder’s mount Flying Jaguar who closed as the 2/1 favourite. Available at 6/1, Chisty started pushing his mount at the top of the straight and pocketed the 1100 metres race close home on the wide outside. Rajinder did his best with the ‘Jaguar’ by hugging the rails but he lost out to a better contestant on this day.
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Arti Doctor-trained Iora closed as the 7/4 favourite for the upper division of the Wise Guy Handicap. The speedy filly by Greensmith out of Anna Karenina grabbed the rails from an inside draw and Rajinder tried his best to take the shortest route home. However, his effort came undone in the last 100 metres as C. Alford’s persistence atop Aymaras finally paid off. The rest of the field were never in with a chance.
Apart from Going for Gold, the Shapoor Mistry team had two other runners in the afternoon’s proceedings which attracted plenty of support. Darius Byramji-trained High Roller was the rage of the ring as well as the ante-post market. Unfortunately, the ‘Roller’ never got going. He was fractious at the gates and threw Chisty off. He was reluctant to gallop throughout the race for the lower division of the Wise Guy Handicap. Driven By Desire failed to live up to her name and displayed no desire to gallop while Leopardino always posed a threat. In the end, it was young apprentice Srinivas Rao who kept pushing the versatile Vignet on the outer rails, clinching the issue close home. The winner is schooled by young Rutherford.
Rao is definitely going places as he was not happy to sit back on his laurels. He alone proved a bane of the heavily fancied Chisty mounts. Sparta shot out of the gates nicely and tried to make ends meet in the six-furlong race for the Picture Perfect Handicap. She was bowling along nicely till Rao decided to squash her chances with Secret Move who galloped resolutely in the straight. Saarah Alam moved well in the later stages to be a good second. All in all, it was another miserable afternoon for Arti Doctor and her owners. The Bath-trained runner completed a lucrative double for Rao and lesser known part-owner A.K. Basu.
Admaris was easily the most facile winner of the afternoon. He looked a winner from the paddock and all the way during the race. C. Alford rode a well-calculated and measured race to brush aside the mediocre opposition. Newfoundland with A Imran Khan in the saddle was a creditable second.
Daniel David and Imran Khan finally came good with Leading Edge in the last race of the day. The filly may be considered a trifle fortunate as the favourite Queen of Rhythm, who was having her first outing, was tightened after the start and returned bleeding from both nostrils - a rarity for a Vijay Singh runner. It’s sad as she has a great bloodline (Steinbeck-Artwork).
