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A HIGH-FIVE FOR P. KAMLESH; FOUR FOR ARTI

By Epsom Ace | 15 Dec 2012 | KOLKATA


Trainer Patrick Quinn leading Ocean And Beyond (P Kamlesh Up), winner of The Nanoli Stud Calcutta Gold Cup (Gr.2)

Jockey P Kamlesh was at his brilliant best as he powered home five consecutive winners at the Calcutta racecourse on Saturday, four of which are under the care of trainer Arti Doctor. To add to his glorious exhibition of saddle artistry were the facts and figures that he maintained a 100 per cent record during the afternoon and the five races which he returned victorious in were the day’s jackpot legs. So, any punter who dared to invest Rs 10/- on a ‘Kamlesh Jackpot special’ would have been rewarded with a nice packet worth Rs 6,715/-.

During his scintillating performance, the blue-eyed-boy of the day also pocketed the afternoon’s plum, The Nanoli Stud Calcutta Gold Cup, with Patrick Quinn-schooled Ocean And Beyond, who edged out local darling and hot favourite Dandified by the proverbial whisker. It may be a bitter pill for jockey Christopher Alford to swallow but there’s no doubt about the fact that Kamlesh beat him at his own game by opting for the rails at the top of the straight after weaving his way through a pack of runners. Had he chosen to go on the outside of Dandified, the extra distance he would have had to cover would have certainly resulted in defeat. Well, there’s only one thing that one can say after the race and that is ‘Kudos to Kamlesh’ !

Patrick Quinn for his part did wonderfully well to use Star Empire as a runaway pacemaker for his stablemate – a ploy that undoubtedly unsettled the rest of the field. As has been mentioned in these columns earlier, Quinn has matured no end as a trainer over the past couple of seasons, thanks mainly to the heavyweight RKW stable.   

Kamlesh and Arti opened their account with Al Attaturk (Alnasr Alwasheek-Hoofbeats) in the Calorescence Handicap. The gelding produced an encore, defying a penalty of 3.5kg without much ado.

The duo’s second winner was Wild Card (New Famous-Rasna) who won an eventful race which saw a riderless runner in Royal Dance and a slow starter in the favourite Charlemagne. While Memories shot ahead as she is wont to do, Kamlesh watched from a box seat in third slot. He wisely delayed his run as the rudderless Royal Dance was jiving all over the place ahead of him. Meanwhile Charlemagne did make up some ground but it was not sufficient to overhaul the eventual winner over a sharp scurry of five-and-half furlongs.

The jockey-trainer combo completed a hat-trick of wins when Shaktiroop (Noverre-Ridyza) galloped to glory in the YPO Calcutta Juvenile Stakes. The speedster quite easily got the measure of runaway Adabella mid-way up the straight.

The Arti-Kamlesh show brought the curtain down with 6/1 shot Ramadan (Razeen-Almaden) who made mincemeat of the tote favourite Grand Design and saw an elated Kamlesh clench his fist as he passed the winning post. In retrospect, it would seem that his good second to Angel Child earlier in the season was as good a pointer as can be. Those who chose to ignore that run of this five-year-old gelding paid the penalty.

The Maharaja Dhiraja Uday Chand Mahtab of Burdwan Memorial Cup had only four in the fray but picking the winner was no easy task. While Sangoma burst his blood vessels, Camacho and Su Chaliyo (Royal Kingdom-bajo Grandeur) fought for a while opposite the grand stand before the latter pulled away. The favourite hall Of Glory was a poor third.

Christopher Alford’s consolation win was astride the on-money Andreus (Placerville-Zarander) in the Allied Forces Plate. The Vijay Singh-trained colt ran a little green but did enough to win well from Shivalik Empress.

Top-weight jockey B.Mahesh rode a great finish atop seven-year-old Big Old Man to bring home the bacon in the day’s opening event for trainer Deepak Karki. Runner-up She’s Like The Wind will be worth following in the future.