It was mixed fortunes for punters at the Calcutta racecourse on Tuesday as two rank outsiders, three second favourites and two public fancies occupied the winner’s enclosure in a card of seven races. The blessing in disguise was that the hot on-money favourite Mumtaz and 7/4 choice Ocean Sunrise were the winners in the last two events of the day, which meant that punters were given a lifeline after the earlier thrashing and then compelled to depart from the racecourse as there were no further races for them to play.

Daniel David-trained Mumtaz (Juniper-Gorgeous Princess) showed that her earlier wins were no flashes in the pan as she got the measure of speedy Zillionaire at the bend and lifted the Gumaan Trophy. The two speedsters went hammer and tongs till the bend where the mare pulled away from her rival without giving apprentice Mohit Singh much work to do.

Earlier in the afternoon, Daniel David-trained Kingston (Sunday Doubt-Chilli Lady) made mincemeat of his rivals in the Best Of The Blues Handicap. The three-year-old was a transformed runner after his forward run with the likes of Sarabhi and Victory Vibes three days earlier on Saturday. Most of the racing fraternity missed out on that eye-catching run and he paid a whopping Rs 327/- on the tote for a Rs 10/- ticket. On this occasion, MF Ali Khan came out of the gates smartly and followed Emerald Queen till the bend where he pulled away quite easily to win by five long lengths from the quietly fancied I’ve Done It.

The jockey completed a brace when immediately afterwards, in the very next race, he rode a forceful finish astride Ebony Princess (Inner City-Wild Dreams) to get the better of Yamlapagladeewana at the post. The latter lost a little ground at the start, other than which he may have well turned the tables. Devil In Disguise had all the chances but failed to accelerate at a crucial juncture.

At the commencement of the day, there was an air of expectation at the Farley Rodrigues yard as three of their horses were being fancied during the course of the afternoon. Unfortunately, none of the gambles materialsed. Flightning fell to Dance In China, Peppermint was swept aside by Kingston and Benjamin was outdone by Ocean Sunrise. Able Mumbai apprentice Akash Agarwal was astride all three runners. But that’s a part and parcel of the game. To quote an age old cliché – “failures are the pillars of success” – and one hopes that the trainer will be able to gauge why the gambles went awry and enjoy better luck on another bright sunny afternoon in the near future.

Vijay Singh-trained Dance In China (China Visit-Born To Fly) is a full brother to Born To Fly and the property of Mr. Deepak Khaitan was ridden flawlessly by Christopher Alford who was well-positioned from the word ‘go’ as Quentin Derward and Lake Storm called the early shots. In the meanwhile, Flightning lost position and fell back to the rear. Christopher rarely loses a race after hitting the front over Calcutta’s short straight. By the time Flightning woke up to the task at hand, Alford had already ensured that the race was in his grasp. Roman Centurion would have been probably closer at the finish had he not drifted out to the outer rails as he is wont to do.

After his fairly impressive second to Secrecy over 2000 metres, Accessor (Chevalier-Dellua) found the 1800-metre trip for the Avaglow Handicap more to his liking. He collared the top-weight favourite Satsuma Star at the distance post and stopped the clock below the two-minute mark in a fast run race.

The Wise Guy handicap was well and truly a Chinese puzzle and it was left to Arti Doctor’s Lunar Quest (Major Impact-Lunar Music) to win a hard-fought race from Ashridge. Shailesh Shinde rode a clever race on the winner and snatched the initiative from Ashridge well before the turning for home. Had Ashridge been ridden more with the pace as he relishes, there is a possibility that the result may have been reversed.

Trevor Patel made amends for his earlier failures on Satsuma Star and Ashridge as he landed a major gamble for his patrons (Wadhwan and Tharani) astride the Bharath Singh-trained Ocean Sunrise (Emerald Cat-Go Go Go).