It was an action-packed afternoon at the Calcutta racecourse on Tuesday as trainer Bharath Singh and jockey Shailesh Shinde edged into the lead in the trainers’ and jockeys’ championships ahead of Vijay Singh and Christopher Alford respectively. The last named duo drew a blank while Bharath led in Accurate and Shinde notched up a double.

Bharath and Shailesh combined fruitfully to lift the S Rahmatulla Memorial Cup with five-year-old Accurate – a recent import from Bangalore. Shinde rode a measured race on the 6/1 shot and took full benefit of the handicap advantage he held over the course favourite Amaretto. The last named ran a great race to bring out the best in Shinde who improved his mount’s position from a handy fourth and hit the front at the distance post to hold on by a long-neck. The fact that Accurate (Hurricane State-Aracruz) is more accustomed to a seven-furlong trip helped him over the six-furlong sprint on the monsoon track (with false-rails up). Furthermore, superior positioning by a superior rider aided the five-year-old to deliver the goods.

Shinde had earlier piloted top-weight Generous Thought (Bees Prospector-Waggamama) from Javed Khan’s yard to a fairly easy triumph in the race for the Whiplash Handicap. It would be fair to say that the other fancied runners Ocean Sunrise and Devilitto lost to a superior horse.

It was also a memorable afternoon for apprentice Azharuddin who notched up his maiden win astride Bhungard-trained Fragrance (Chatham Strait-Yvresse), available at 12/1. Being a forward three-year-old filly on the up, the apprentice (aided by his 4kg allowance) had no trouble in shooting into the lead at the distance post and keeping at bay Araneda who is sure to benefit from this outing. The course favourite Impressive Win planted and did not take any active part in the race. It seems that trainer Vikash Jaiswal has a problem as the highly rated colt has completely lost his gate manners this monsoon season.

Rutherford Alford-trained Head Hunter (Imran Chisty up) recorded a much overdue win in the Vagabond Handicap. Brigadier showed early speed before fizzling out after bursting a blood vessel. Adawna proved to be a worthy second in the small field of five. Now that the youngster by Emerald Cat out of Flying Rani has seen the winning post, he will no longer be a pushover in the future.

Brigadier was not the only runner who burst a blood vessel during the afternoon. In the opening race, Darius Byramji-trained Rock The Stars (Placerville-Skyrocket) romped home five lengths clear but suffered the same fate. Top-weight jockey B Mahesh followed Yamlapagladeewana till the top of the home stretch before skating clear. Course favourite Prince Cyrus and Vence were huge disappointments.

Roxy’s win in The Sermon  Handicap cannot be considered totally out of the blue as the Javed Khan-trained runner was the only winner in the race – barring the out of form Avon Creek. The other five runners were all maidens and seemed all at sea against the seasoned campaigner by Classic Tale out of Eternal Babe. Empress Of Persia has been running consistently and earning her feed. She needs to be watched.

The curtain came down with Habbu-trained Iverness making mincemeat of her rivals. The well-bred filly (Mull Of Kintyre-Bravissima) was benefited by two mock races and made the six-furlong sprint an effortless start-to-finish exercise in the hands of Kadam.