Robin Corner saddles first winner
By Aalibaba (indiathoroughbreds@hotmail.com)

Kolkata
November 17, 2005

Acrostic is a name that Robin Corner will remember for a long time to come. The three-year old chestnut colt, owned by Deepak Khaitan, slammed the opposition in the Averoff Handicap to give the former champion jockey his first winner in his new profession.  Corner was all smiles as he led in Acrostic and remarked that his feelings were “Good, damn good,” when asked for his reaction. He looked to be amply delighted on his first success as a trainer though he had booted home more than 1900 winners during his riding days.

Racing returned to the main track though there was no cause for celebrations for punters as favourites fell like nine pins, as seasoned jockeys were unable to deliver leaving the seven-event card open for apprentices and lesser names to dominate. 

There were very few takers for Acrostic at 3-1, while Aguilas was the pubic-rage heading for the start at 7-10 following his recent bloodless victory in the lower class.

Aguilas was, however, fully exposed against the quality opposition and finished a miserable third behind even Sven. 

Santarelle served a deadly blow to her supporterrs when she failed to jump out with the field in the 1,200m BOL Publication Cup. It was, therefore, left to trainer Daniel David and apprentice Amandeep Singh to grab the opportunity on a less-fancied Wayward King. Although the winner also came slowly out of the gates, the apprentice was seen working on five-year-old right after the start. He had the King settle in the mid-bunch until the final turn before coming with a threatening run to overtake Corvino, Vijay’s neglected contender in the race, a furlong from home. The Bangalore Challenger Cameo Role was a decent third behind Corvino, and could do better in her next start.

In the day's feature, the RWITC Cup, Alford’s Serrafina badly suffered at the start – losing about 10 lengths. Alford was, however, somewhat enterprising on the 12-10 favourite, as he coaxed and urged the four-year-old to race in the mid-bunch soon enough. The game filly also made a rapid progress in the final stretch when the winner Noble Flash appeared to be going great guns in the hands of Amandeep. However, Serrafina fell shy by a length at the wire.

Amandeep had started the day on a wrong foot on Daniel’s King Is Born in the 2,000m Adelina Handicap. The 13-10 favourite was taken to the front from the start and appeared to be traveling well until the even-money favourite, Annotate, disturbed his pace joining the leader upfront. As a result of this, the two frontrunners ran out of the steam and the nine-year-old Rheinheart reaped the harvest with a late run. It was Rheinheart’s his third successive victory.

Javed Khan’s 8-10 favourite Thanks To All made his six rival look a bunch of novices in the 1,100m Flash Toy handicap which he won by a shade over eight lengths despite his crushing impost of 61 kg.

In contrast, Daniel’s lightweight Russian Valour had to fight a furlong-long battle with the Pune-migrant Aag to win the Gabarnac Handicap. Mark Reuben who had had an armchair ride on Thanks To All, found the luck deserting this time on the Javed-trainee.

Bharath Singh’s Azinger was well nursed at the weights during the entire monsoon season and the four-year-old found his seven rivals, in the 1,100m Pentire Handicap, an easy prey. Known to be comfortable over middle distances, the Sizzling Melody-Anmol Ratan son was ridden off the pace in the first-half of the race before coming with a smooth run to annihilate the opposition. Azinger could do the trick again over his favourite trip.