It was an afternoon of upsets at the Calcutta racecourse on Tuesday. The main event, The Bhishma Trophy, proved to be quite an eventful race. On his arrival at Calcutta, Dashrath Singh informed his ‘reception committee’ and the connections of Adamaris that he has been asked not to ride the latter by his Mumbai retainers – which is an absolutely fair diktat considering that their horse Zillionaire was running with a chance of winning the race. Ashish substituted Dashrath on the second favourite.

The public choice was Cayenne who was available at 13/10. Zillionaire (Senure-Zillion Figlia) was quoted at 6/1. The last named pair shot out of the gates like scalded cats and Shailesh Shinde on the Arti Doctor ward managed to prise the lead away from the favourite within 100 metres of the start. Though Ryan Marshall on the favourite managed to close the gap to within half-a-length a hundred metres from home, Shinde showed that he had something in hand by pulling away. The Vikash Jaiswal stable appeared to prefer Alacrity to Adamaris. Alacrity was better placed than Cayenne on handicap (over 20kg) from their early meetings but had no form to go by. Nevertheless, he ended up within a head of the favourite.

The afternoon commenced with apprentice Mohit pulling off a fine victory astride Jasbir Singh-trained Firing Power (Dark Nile-Anntari). The favourite April Edition was on a start-to-finish mission but drifted out in the straight. Stablemate Leonidas was also fancied but the unsound horse appeared to be under duress right through the trip. Samaba Dancer appeared to be cold as a cucumber while Mohit set Firing Power alight in the straight and the old warhorse responded gamely.

Mohit completed his brace with Perseverance (6/1) but not before a visit to the Guardians’ room. The favourite Xavier collared Blood Rayne and was making a beeline for the winning post but apprentice Tamang had no clue where that was. He continued to whip the colt with his right hand and the Javed Khan runner veered out so badly that he would have knocked the fast moving Perseverance (Inner City-Troienne) and her jockey out of her stride and off his perch, had not Mohit had the presence of mind to check his mount. Perseverance went down by a short-neck but it was a foregone conclusion that the objection would be upheld. Had it been a clean run race, Perseverance would have probably won by a couple of lengths.

Heavy rain after the second race left the ground on the track on the soft side. The hot favourite Alicante in the Zeenee Handicap may not have liked the going and appeared to be struggling. Lake Sunrise seemed to enjoy the turf and would have pocketed the race had she not shortened her strides in the last 50 metres. Ardent and Graceful (Black Cash-Dasahara) with Ashish in the saddle pipped her at the post. The favourite Noble Defender was a faraway third.

Fashionably bred Secrecy (China Visit-Glorious Colours) proved that she is a candidate for the Monsoon Derby with a thumping win in the Everynsky Handicap. Avon Creek started shortening his strides before the bend and it was left to Accessor to run on for the runner-up berth. Christopher Alford rode the Vijay Singh filly to perfection. She was available at 55 paise.

Royal Dance (Royal Kingdom-Dancing with Bertie) and Giocometti went hammer and tongs down the straight and the former prevailed in the Vagabond Handicap. Apprentice Tamang once again failed to maintain a straight course on the winner.

Ryan Marshall does not get too many winners at this centre but did justice to the Bharath Singh runner Ocean Clipper (Ontario-Scarborough) in the last race of the day. Generosity ran a poor race while top-weight Flying Jaguar was a good second.