A heavy shower after the first race could not deter Pesi Shroff-trained Alice Springs and Vijay Singh-trained Hall Of Glory from keeping their dates with destiny. The former, a property of Dr Vijay Mallya, won the Calcutta Fillies Trial in spectacular fashion, while Hall of Glory simply completed the formalities for the Deepak Khaitan stable in the Calcutta Colts Trial.

The Vijay-Alford team thus completed a double, having won the Alternator Cup with Silver Fox earlier. The prominent colours of Dr Vijay Mallya were also in the forefront prior to the running of the Fillies Trial as they had lifted the first running of the Teddy McGaffin Memorial Cup with Castle Queen (‘Deon’ Sampson astride). However, 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 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. Meanwhile, ownermate Conquistarose, Sampson up, was setting a scorching pace, followed by Make My Day, Mandira, Debonaire Girl and Secret Fire.

‘Alice’ literally sprung into action after heads turned for home. In a trice, Kadam had her hugging the rails and stretching out beautifully. She is bred to stay. Thus, with the kind of acceleration she displayed, she will be difficult to toss in the Monsoon Derby. Though Hall Of Glory won the Colts Trial start-to-finish, the winner of the Calcutta Million will surely be tested over a 2,000 metres trip for the first time. However, the Vijay Singh yard has another ace up their sleeve in the form of Record Breaker. Thus, the famous colours from Bangalore (white with black V) seem to be headed for a showdown with Calcutta’s red-and-gold brigade.

The afternoon commenced well for trainer Bath as apprentice Shezad Khan rode a powerful finish atop De La Paix to edge out Star Infinity at the post. The filly thus made amends for her last failure. The disappointment in the Mandolin Handicap was the poor run of Sun Dancer. Perhaps, three runs in quick succession have made him a trifle jaded.

A heavy shower after the opening race delayed the proceeding by about half an hour. Trainer John Stephens grabbed the opportunity to pick up both divisions of the Richie Rich Handicap. Nelson Maseyk on Rebellious sailed past the favourite Bayberry with 100 metres to go. The seven-year-old obviously enjoyed the going as did Mrs Jones in the lower division. The favourite Arielle followed her all the way without posing any serious threat. The winner was piloted by competent apprentice Mohit Singh.

Old-timers will recall Teddy McGaffin as one of the city’s best saddle artists. The first running of a race in his memory was a seven-furlong affair and it attracted six runners. The betting was shared between top-weight Castle Queen and Arctic Force. Sampson, on the former, rode a similar race to what he had done while atop the filly in her last winning essay. He chose to lie third in a box seat while Moment Of Love set the pace. Bottom-weighted Party Celebration trailed the field once again and is obviously not right.

As the field came into the straight, Castle Queen shot ahead while Arctic Force was extremely lethargic. There ended the story. Silver Fox, Cotswold Arms and Mother’s Pride shared the betting in the Alternator Cup but in retrospect, such was the ‘Fox’s’ superiority that he should have been half-money instead of 5/2. The extremely poor runs of the other two well-backed runners were disappointing to say the least. No mother would be proud of the six-year-old mare’s lacklustre showing.

Trainer Arti Doctor’s Snowberry responded magnificently to the urgings of jockey Shailesh Shinde to bag the last race of the day and leave Suraj Narrredu atop the favourite Agnation far behind. Suraj thus ended the afternoon with a ‘zero’ score sheet but it was nevertheless a memorable one for him. The Stewards of RCTC honoured with a memento for reaching the 1000-win landmark recently. Jockey Christopher Alford, who notched up a brace on this day, is now three short of his thousand. The chances are that he will achieve the target in the coming week.