Trainer Vijay Singh was in his element at the Calcutta racecourse on Sunday. The centre's leading schooler registered a facile quadruple of winners but had the mortification of seeing his ward Regal Connection bite the dust in the day's feature, The Romantic Liaison Cup. The race was won by Rutherford Alford-trained Lycia Falcon who made amends for his earlier failure at the hands of Forces of Destiny. Jockey Ashish atop the 5/1 winner made a start -to-finish affair of the seven-furlong trip.

While leaving the paddock atop the 'Falcon', Ashish glanced at Alford (senior) for any last minute instructions and the wily trainer that he is, Richard signalled to the lad to let the gelding run his own race. It was on an impulse that the vastly experienced Richard Alford decided to employ this tactic as he had earlier opined that the four-year-old runs best when ridden in check. The ploy worked wonders as neither Regal Connection nor Bountiful Talent could match strides with him in the final furlong. The victory was a shot in the arm for son Rutherford who has been wheel-chair bound for some time now. The Alfords also own a quarter share of the winner in the name of Mrs. G. Alford (Richard's wife).

The afternoon well and truly belonged to the Alford family as nephew Christopher rode his second treble in as many days. His winners were astride the Vijay Singh-trained trio of Romantic Tactics, Quantum of Solace and Areology. Vijay also led in Exclusivity, piloted confidently by light-weight Neeraj Rawal.

The supporting event, The Silver Cup, saw Javed Khan-trained Storming Success go away from the field at the distance post. After Rising Fame had done the initial running, the Don-Micheletto-Arabian Light colt cruised into the lead in the hands of Md Islam. Though Innovator made a bold bid to get on even terms, the 5.5 pull in weight tilted the scales in favour of the winner.

This report would not be complete without a word about the confident manner in which apprentice Pintu Das handled bottom-weight Ferdunji Cooverji in the Glen Muick Handicap. Displaying great maturity, Pintu kept his mount tucked in behind the front-running pair of Manjhale Nawab and Autumn Rose while the favourite Howling Wolf was on his outside. Much to the delight of his mentor Farley Rodrigues, Pintu urged his mount to collar the front-runner at the distance post. The elated youngster punched the air while passing the winning post. This was the third winner of his career.