The letter ‘A’ played havoc at the Calcutta racecourse on Friday as four runners whose names begin with the first letter of the alphabet occupied the winner’s enclosure. The story did not end there as apprentice ‘Ajoy’ Roy notched up a double, ‘Afzal’ Khan rode Alam Ara to victory, ‘Arti’ Doctor picked up the feature event and most importantly for punters – the on-money favourite Ashridge failed to respond to his rider’s urgings. I had better stop here or I would have to do a column on numerology (where ‘A’ is equivalent to one). My readers may note that the above observations were made in a jocular vein and we can now get down to the more serious business of racing as it unfolded on Friday.

In fact, 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 the 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 and wipe out the miserable memory of Hall of Glory’s defeat last week at Bangalore.

The main event, The Harry the Horse Cup, saw Arti Doctor-trained Thundering Hooves pick up from where he had left off at the end of the winter meet. The five-year-old chestnut was expertly handled by Shailesh Shinde who was riding him for the first time. The sprinter picked up a good gallop in the straight to peg back top-weight Arktouros who threatened to run away with the race after outclassing the likes of Palme D’Or and Fly for Sure. Much was expected from the highly rated favourite Spitz but he never settled down. He was mulish at the gates and was in mid-division throughout the race despite the best efforts of Ryan Marshall.

Ryan and Bharath made a confident start astride Autocrat in the Gumaan Handicap. The well-bred gelding (Placerville-Pia’s Baby) made it a start-to-finish affair to give Marshall an armchair ride. Auckley and Gurung finished well to give the impression that they may prefer a longer trip. The rest of the field were also-rans although some come money came on aged Italian Star.

With his confidence bolstered by that victory, Marshall decided to leave nothing to chance in the seven-furlong race for the Hokaido Handicap. He took the heavily backed Caravaggio to the helm of affairs even before the turning for home but came to a standstill when Gurung and Andeana picked up a winning gallop along the rails. Agnation always looked threatening at weights but found the winner too good.

The withdrawal of the favourite Illuminati and the unruly All That Jazz reduced the field to six in the 1,000 metres scurry for the Elistano Handicap. The favourite by default (Regal Jewel) was not looking up to it in the paddock and it was Sarfaraz Khan-trained Alam Ara who showed a clean pair of heels. Arti Doctor’s Silken Dancer was a good second and may be worth following.

Both Bharath Singh-trained Ashridge and Black Falcon were looking a picture in the paddock. The bred-in-the-blue pair was, however, separated by a huge margin as far as odds were concerned. While the former was even-money, the latter was 10/1. Ashridge is known to be a forward runner and Marshall did no wrong by hitting the front early in the race. Black Falcon and able apprentice Shezad Khan sat at his tail and swept past him in the straight. More will be heard of this Bath-trained winner. Roman Quintet occupied the runner-up berth but is known to like a mile or more, so he is one for your notebook as well.

Apprentice Ajoy Roy is a changed rider after notching up his first win atop Arizzano last winter. He has improved in leaps and bounds and prepares his winning rides on the track too. The lad is being rewarded well by mentor Vijay Singh for all the work that he puts in. His lucrative double with Exclusivity and Arizzano is proof of that. The former is known to run well first time out as he showed last winter when he went down by the proverbial whisker to Pocket Rocket. Speedy Rithambhra is not in the same class as the ‘Rocket’ and Exclusivity wore him down in the straight to lift the Bold Raider Cup.

Ajoy completed his brace in the last race of the afternoon with Arizzano as he got the better of front-running Successful opposite the grandstand despite the latter veering out considerably. The other fancied runner in the race, Prospective Lad, ran like a damp squib. He seems to have lost some of his early speed and needs to recover that before he can be expected to strike pay dirt.