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Oyster Cove Defies Age Barrier

By Epsom Ace | 12 Jul 2011 | KOLKATA


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It was indeed a start with a bang to the Calcutta Monsoon Season of 2011 on Tuesday. Two rank outsiders, a couple of lesser fancied runners and three favourites completed a memorable opening day’s races for punters. The commencement of the day’s proceedings was delayed by about 35 minutes due to a serious fault in the electrical circuit which resulted in the totalisator being inoperative for the first race. The time lapse could not be made up during the afternoon and as a result, the races ended over half-an-hour after the scheduled time of the last race. The one man who will be smiling after what may be termed as a ‘mixed’ beginning for local turfites is the handicapper. Some stunning close finishes brought visitors to the edge of their seats. Another person who inevitably has the last laugh on a gloomy monsoon afternoon is wily, veteran trainer John Stephens. In retrospect, it must be said that he deserves his success as he maintains his aged runners in the pink of health.

In the hands of apprentice Shezad Khan, nine-year-old Oyster Cove (Royal Kingdom-Gumbaru Etsu) raised a scintillating gallop close home to peg back Royal Saga at the post in the 1000-metre scurry for The La Gitana Handicap. Royal Saga was on a start-to-finish mission and would have pocketed the race had Shezad not persevered with his mount in such vigorous manner. Vikash Jaiswal’s Triunfo was the runner who was making it uncomfortable for the front-runner but Shailesh Shinde managed to shake him off. Unfortunately, the effort told on his mount.

The afternoon commenced quietly enough as Shezad picked up his first race of the day atop the on-money Rob N Rob (Ontario-Dellua). The Bath-trained runner (a recent import from Mumbai) was given a flawless ride by the apprentice as he sailed past the front-running Spanish Sahara at the turning for home. Alpine Count was a fairly good second.

Apprentice rider Vikash Tamang, who rode Alpine Count up front, decided to wait with his next mount Let Her Dance from Patrick Quinn’s yard. It sure as hell paid dividends as the three-year-old filly by Mr Mellon out of Born To Dance (a half-sister to Born To Fly) came with telling strides down the centre to put paid to the pretensions of Oriental Magic in The Amberdue Handicap. The on-money public choice Glorious Dancer was always struggling to keep pace and ended up a tame fifth.

Champion jockey Christopher Alford, who was astride Glorious Dancer, made amends with his next mount Glorious Invention. The speedy colt by Glory Of Dancer out of Inventive drifted out but was always over a length ahead of Must Be Magic who was in tow. Alford was warned by the stipes for this lapse.

The Woolver Valley Handicap saw the biggest margin of victory of the afternoon. Arti Doctor-trained Silken Dancer (Glory Of Dancer-Silken Magic) gave Shailesh Shinde an armchair ride as she collared the runaway Successful with effortless ease. The flop of the field was Xavier whose form leaves much to be desired.

Shafiq Khan-trained Sumangla (Duja-Trillennium) made the Finalist Handicap her own without being unduly stretched. Apprentice Mohit Singh on the winner had to keep at bay Cee Four who looked menacing in the straight but was never really a serious threat. Yet another flop was C. Alford’s mount Oscar. It will be quite some time before he can win such an award. Bhima showed early speed but that is where his story ended.

The afternoon ended in rip-roaring fashion as Md Imran brought the friendless Solid Success (Don Micheletto-Shades Of Beauty) from Jasbir Singh’s yard with an amazing run in the straight to peg back the likes of Alize and Bayberry who were battling it out for the top spot. Once again, Alford’s mount Bluegrass was seen to struggle. Punters would do well to realize that these runners need a run - before screaming for his blood.

In a nutshell, it would be fair to summarize the first day as ‘fairly satisfactory’ as form did hold sway on several occasions and close finishes went in favour of the outsiders.