Suave jockey A. Imran Khan pulled off a stunning hat-trick at the Calcutta racecourse on Saturday while riding for the stable of Daniel David in the colours of MAM Ramaswamy. Normally used to playing second fiddle to ace rider B. Prakash, Imran got the better of the latter astride the friendless Sound of Cheers (running in the Calcutta Juvenile Stakes) and again in the day's feature, the 2000 Guineas, where his mount Noble View edged out fast-finishing Raghuvansh for a thrilling victory. The favourite and stablemate Bountiful Talent found the pace too hot and hung out in the straight. Earlier, Imran was installed as the firm favourite atop Certain Smile in the Beat The Distance Handicap and he did not disappoint his backers.

An elated Imran said after the big race that he was grateful to the 'boss' for giving him the opportunity to ride in Calcutta. His loyalty to the colours was a feather in the cap for the 'goldie-brown' team. The race for the 2000 Guineas was an absolute edge-of-the seat-thriller. Arktouros set a scorching pace in the hands of Christopher Alford and tried to run away with the race. However, Daniel David-trained Noble View smoothly took over the lead in the run in for home and quite easily shook off the likes of stablemate Bountiful Talent and Safari. The threat emanated from unexpected quarters as French saddle artist Samuel Fargeat forged a passage down the centre with the grey Raghuvansh. It was quite a creditable performance considering that it was his first run at this centre.

Noble View, sired by Razeen out of Anagram, stopped the clock at 1min 36.793sec and picked up a healthy winner's purse of almost Rs 22 lakh. The filly Safari quite obviously found the strain of two mile classics within a space of six days a little too much to handle. She is almost certain to give the Oaks a bye. The cram-jammed schedule is likely to tell on some of the runners unless their mentors space out their entries wisely.

The seven-furlong race for the Police Commissioner's Cup was bagged by the unfancied Chagall from the Harvinder Singh Bath's yard. The 10-to-3-on stablemate Antenor was seen to struggle in the straight and finished an unimpressive runner-up. An enquiry has been opened into his run. None of the runners in this seven-horse field had much form to go by and the win of Chagall was almost by default.

Apprentice Mahesh may be over-weight in so far as apprentices go but he is not short of riding talent, that's for sure. After notching up a narrow win atop Summer Rose in the curtain-raiser, he guided Bold Reply to a fairly well-calculated triumph in the Sreepriya Handicap. The five-year-old chestnut mare closed as the favourite.

That jockey Prakash was going to have a miserable afternoon was evident after his on-money mount Flaming Comet finished a lacklustre third to Promissory in the upper division of the Birthday Girl Handicap. The six-year-old from Vijay Singh's yard made every post a winning one.

Five horses were backed in the Calcutta Juvenile Stakes but not one of them could land the spoils. That honour was left to Sound of Cheers, who won despite being taken wide. Favourite Cascdes and Countess occupied the minor berths.

The win of Quantico was not exactly how one would have expected him to do it. The five-year-old Vijay Singh runner was stretched by Orlando Bloom and B. Prakash. It was almost a last-ditch effort by the latter to open his account for the afternoon. Neeraj Rawal managed to keep his mount going for a half-length victory.

Bath had the last laugh when he bowled his wrong 'un yet again as The Red Rose bagged the lower division of the Birthday Girl Handicap from the piping-hot public choice and stablemate The Ladyisshady. With that win, Afzal Khan too completed a brace.