It was a Tuesday afternoon at the Calcutta racecourse that most punters would care to forget. It started and ended disastrously for the majority, though, to be fair, racing as a whole was pretty above board and entertaining.

The day began ominously as Mission Chief (Warrshan-Overrule) – the outsider of four at 15/1, made every post a winning one while the 10-to-3-on public choice Araceli made up considerable leeway before the home-turn but failed to overhaul the nine-year-old from Vikash Jaiswal’s yard with apprentice Sameer astride. The moot point was why C.Alford permitted a 15-length break to the front-runner in the first place when he is known to have stayed a mile in the past.

The main event, The Delhi Race Club Trophy, was yet another out-of-the-blue result as the quartet of fancied runners (Mischievous Trot, Regal Classic, Samarkhand and Abronia) all bit the dust as the 7/1 shot Star Symphony was ridden by Aadesh Kumar to a convincing victory over seven furlongs. This, after he burst his blood vessels last time out over five-and-half furlongs. Both Abronia and Regal Classic were well below par. However, credit goes to trainer Bharath Singh and his connections for accepting with this five-year-old over this trip in the highest category though he was actually out of the scale, albeit by only half a kilogram.

Trainer Darius Byramji had only one winner to show at the end of the day. Jockey AM Tograllu opened his account for the season with a hard-fought win astride Lady Ship (Placerville-Lady Moura) in the race for the Yargo Handicap. She was ridden in a forward manner and though challenged strongly by Combined Operation all the way down the straight, the filly held her own by virtue of a substantial pull in weights. The mile trip suited this full sister to Invitation Cup winner Sweeping Success and she may yet prefer a longer trip.

Four metres wide false rails from the 1200 metres marker till the winning post may have actually aided a couple of winners during the afternoon. The first of these was Glynneath (Black Cash-Struie) whose last run was too bad to be true. She was in receipt of nearly 8kg by the terms from the speedster Accrews. Though the latter made a bee line for the finish from the word go, he must have found the extra distance by virtue of the false rails a shade behind his compass. The Bharath Singh-trained runner was given a measured ride by Trevor Patel who collared the front-runner near home.

The second winner who relished the extra distance as a result of the false rails was Xavier ( Duja-Miss Sunshine). The Javed Khan-trained chestnut was better than Ocean Sunrise at weights from their previous meeting and overhauled his closest rival at the post where the fast-finishing stablemate Sky Glider looked more menacing but succumbed a short-neck. The flashy victory completed a back-to-back double for Shailesh Shinde, as he had guided Devil In Disguise to a flawless triumph.

The Wandering Angel Handicap was one of the most competitive races of the afternoon with quite a few of the nine runners in the betting for the 2000 metres event. Second favourite Devil In Disguise (Royal Kingdom-Limelite) was ridden in a measured manner by Shinde who gradually improved him from the rear of the field to hit the front opposite the grandstand and peg back the likes of Secret Reward, Dance In China and Matias.

Equally competitive was the Starry Flag Handicap lifted by Saddler’s Pride (Don Micheletto-Scholarship) from Jasbir Singh’s yard. Mohit Singh brought him on the wide outside to edge out Gentle Jewel and front-running Elusive Thought at the wire.