The New Year's Day races at the Calcutta racecourse turned out to be a grand success. A large gathering witnessed some excellent racing despite RCTC being handicapped by the attack of PUO that affected half the stable-strength nearly two months ago.

The Club has sprung back into action in great style and the opening day saw a card of eight well-filled races.

Bleary eyed punters (after late night New Year's Eve binges) returned home a happy lot as three firm favourites obliged after a disastrous start.

Trainer Vijay Singh and jockey Neeraj Rawal combined on Exclusivity and Devilish to bring home a popular double while Christopher Alford gave Vijay a third winner - Quantum of Solace. The last named was the shortest priced favourite of the day. Rawal brought the curtain down with Bath-trained Body and Soul to complete his treble.

The day started with 10-year-old Polynesian making every post a winning one in the Sentouki Cup. The favourite Lady Pepperoni once again ran a lacklustre race.

John Stephens-trained Italian Striker is known to prefer a longer trip but faced no difficulty in putting paid to the pretensions of Howling Wolf in the Irma La Douce Cup. Both these winners were available at 10/1 in the ring.

With the two races from the lowest category out of the way, punters got down to serious business from the third race onwards. Imran Chisty above Our Dragon closed as the favourite in the Sting Ray Cup and the chestnut issued a strong challenge to the quietly fancied Quaoar. The latter, a Patrick Quinn ward, saw Vijay Kumar at his best. As the training track was open to horses late in December, some of the runners were obviously a shade under-prepared and this was reflected on the racetrack. Top weight Axminster is not a very reliable type but finished full of running. He may be worth following in the future.

Exclusivity showed his class in the Tanganyika Cup. After the speedy Zafir had threatened to make every post a winning one, the Deepak Khaitan-owned colt swept past the front runner in a trice opposite the grandstand. None of the others displayed any zest for racing.

Quantum of Solace obliged his backers to lift the Goolagong Cup but the Harish Ramchandani owned five-year-old had to be ridden with great expertise by the vastly experienced Christopher Alford to land the spoils from the hard-ridden M aster Marvel.

Forces of Destiny completed a double for Patrick Quinn and Vijay Kumar when he won the day's feature, the RCTC New Year's Trophy. He then had to survive a double-objection from Lycia Falcon and Aristotle. Though Quinn's ward cut across the pair in the home stretch, there is no doubt that he was the fastest travelling runner in the final furlong. The other two were just not moving.

Devilish was easily the most impressive winner of the afternoon. Despite an outside draw, he gave Rawal an armchair ride to bag the Wandering Angel Cup. Secret Move ran an impressive second.

Three horses were in the betting in the afternoon's final event, The Punters Delight Cup. They were She's Superb, Body and Soul and Magic Spell. Rawal's riding on Body and Soul made the difference as he ensured that the seven-year-old mare kicks on even after rookie Srinivas Rao on She's Superb had threatened to collar her after the turning for home.