The colours of Dr Vijay Mallya (white with black V) took Calcutta by storm during the recently concluded monsoon meet. It was a refreshing change from the local red-and-gold brigade or the omnipresent ‘goldie-brown’ colours that have been dominating this centre for some time now. The silks of the globally famous liquor tycoon from Bangalore were simply unstoppable. Three-year-olds like Alice Springs (Razeen-Allinda) and Awesome Indian (Brave Act-Indian Style), and four-year-olds such as Caravaggio (Razeen-Priceless), Castle Queen (Placerville-Castle Park) and Autocrat (Placerville-Pia’s Baby) were seen to shunt local talent to the sidelines.

A taste of what was to be expected was first given on August 21 when a brilliant treble was notched up by the yard. The Juvenile Sprint saw Ryan Marshall ride a purposeful finish astride the Bharath Singh-trained Awesome Indian. The gross debacle of the hot favourite Oasis Knight was shocking. Ryan’s first winner of the day was astride the bred-in-the-blue colt Caravaggio. Ryan had given the four-year-old an useful lung-opener earlier in the season. Pesi Shroff-trained Alice Springs (who went on to win the Fillies Trial and Derby) justified her on-money status with a facile win in the Zelda Handicap.

A major highlight of the season was Christopher Alford completing 1,000 career wins while astride Arktouros in the Stewards Cup on September 18. Alford commented after the race: “It was just like batting in the nineties, it’s really a big weight off my shoulder. The fact that I did it on one of my favourite horses (Arktouros) makes it even sweeter. I really can’t express my happiness.” As far as jockeys go, another heartening feature was the performance of young Shailesh Shinde who made Calcutta his happy hunting ground while riding for Arti Doctor’s yard.

A little surprisingly, neither Daniel David nor his retained rider A Imran Khan featured in the leading trio of contenders. Let us take a chronological look at the some of the other highlights of the short 19-day season as it unfolded. On the opening day (July 9), both of Patrick Quinn’s runners, Donna Italiana and Bella Italiana, were being fancied cautiously by racegoers in the Zipper Handicap. However, it was Daniel David-trained All Diamonds who closed as the hot favourite. The second fancied runner was Vikash Jaiswal-trained All In The Stars. Neither had any answer to Bella Italiana’s speed when Imran Chisty set her alight. She ran away for a comfortable victory.

She was later disqualified for testing positive to a banned substance and never recovered her form thereafter. On day 3, the combination of trainer Bharath Singh and jockey Ryan Marshall fizzled out after a confident start astride Autocrat in the curtain-raiser. One would have to doff one’s hat to Vijay Singh for planning a master-coup with lesser riders. The grapevine had it that champion jockey Christopher Alford had opted out to give his colleagues from the same stable a ‘chance to show their mettle’. And boy, did they ever grab it! First Jugnu Gurung rode a great finish astride Andeana to put paid to the pretensions of Caravaggio and then apprentice Ajoy Roy rode a confident double to begin Vijay’s monsoon campaign with a bang. On day 4, came a big shocker.

The half-money favourite from Vijay Singh’s yard Art Excellence finished a very poor fifth from among six runners in the seven-furlong race for the Goldliner Handicap. After an untidy start, the winner of three races last winter (one race was unjustly taken away in the Stewards room), failed to find a footing. She refused to settle down and bumped the rails before the turning for home. Jockey Christopher Alford, who had drawn a blank till the seventh race, came alive with a fine win atop the moody Royal Dance in The True Colours Handicap.

On day 5, the trainer who made hay on a gloomy (in every sense of the word) afternoon was veteran Richard Alford with a lucrative double. His winners were Runjeet and Successful – both piloted with confidence by apprentice Srinivas Rao. Runjeet bagged the Idaho handicap over six furlongs while getting the better of fancied runners Glorious Dancer, Regal Bearing and Credit Swap. Alford, his horse owner Gill and jockey Srinivas completed a ‘Successful’ double as the filly by that name got the better of Legendary Emperor near home in the race for the lower division of the Super Sunrise Handicap. Though Legendary Emperor was better at weights from their winter clash, the horse folded up when challenged by Successful.

Much was expected of top-weight Crystal Dance but he was yet another three-year-old who failed to deliver. Alford’s owners were, however, unhappy with the handling of a star performer Ajayajeet later in the season and have since transferred the rig to Bath’s yard. Jockey Kishore Kadam, who rode Ajayajeet in the Alamito Cup on September 23, has been suspended for three racedays. On day 6, the afternoon belonged to jockey Kishore Kadam, whose marvellous hat-trick featuring Sangoma, All Time High and Kuhaylan must have enthralled his supporters. All three runners were at lucrative odds and very much in the reckoning. The repeated failure of three-year-olds during the early part of the monsoon season has been causing some concern to punters.

Knowing the superiority of the Bangalore class, they expected Missoni to land the spoils. But it was not to be. That Calcutta runners are inferior to their imported counterparts from south and west was proved yet again in the day’s main event, The Supernova Cup. One person who was obviously wise to this discrepancy in class is trainer Arti Doctor. She had been hitting pay dirt with her runners over and over again. The lady placed her wards intelligently and she made quite an impact with Romantic Impact.

On day 7, the favourite Glorious Invention won the Tasmac Handicap in great style, collaring runaway Iora without much fuss. The Bath-trained winner was piloted by M Krishna pretty competently. However, the Stewards didn’t take too kindly to Jugnu Gurung sitting tight on Apyrous who was obviously in the field for an airing. He needs more ground but could well have finished closer to the winner had he been persisted with. Gurung’s licence was withdrawn. He will not be eligible to ride till April 2011. On day 8, an ambitious gamble on King’s Desire fell apart as three-year-olds Secret Fire and Island Rhythm occupied the top two slots.

The winner Secret Fire was ridden with full of confidence by Imran Chisty. On day 11, C Alford won the Calcutta Monsoon Sprint while astride Vijay Singh-trained Arktouros. From the 10th draw, he took a little time to grab the rails, but once he did that, there was no looking back. Javed and his patron Sudhir Ahuja completed a double at nourishing odds when they picked up the Ballet Master Handicap with Roxy. Shailesh Shinde was never short of confidence atop this 6/1 shot. On day 12, the filly which held centre-stage was undoubtedly Alice Springs. This full sister to Southern Regent (Razeen-Allinda) displayed an incredible turn of foot to leave the field in the Fillies Trial standing.

Jockey Kishore Kadam, who had tenaciously prepared the filly under the watchful eye of Pesi Shroff, rode a supremely confident race. Initially, she was about six lengths behind the field, and gradually made up ground to be along the rails near the turning for home. ‘Alice’ literally sprung into action after heads turned for home. In a trice, Kadam had her hugging the rails and stretching out beautifully. On day 17, the combo of Pesi Shroff and B Prakash picked up their second Derby in as many days with Alice Springs.

The duo had tasted success a day earlier at Malakpet with Xisca. It was a magnificent show by the filly and more races seem to be in store for her. On the penultimate day, Daniel David had the pleasure of lifting the afternoon’s main event, The Indo-Bhutan Friendship Trophy, with the speedy four-year-old filly Burst Of Speed (Eljohar-Coral Reef). The victory also gave apprentice Arman Khan his first win of the season. The curtain came down on October 13 without any major surprises. Six-year-old Silver Fox completed a hat-trick by winning the Monsoon Cup. Trainer Vijay Singh retained his championship title, as did Christopher Alford among the jockeys. Apprentice Shezad Khan was the best from his category. Dr Vijay Mallya was declared the premier owner.