The Royal Calcutta Turf Club Cup, a terms event for three year old Indian horses, featured an ordinary looking card of eight events held at Bangalore on Friday. This well endowed event failed to generate much enthusiasm amongst the owners and trainers, and only five youngsters reached the acceptance stage. Since there were penalties for earlier victories, Irfan Ghatala’s two time winner Sebright was seen carrying three kilos more than those that had won only once in their careers. Ganapathy’s Simply Stylish was the highest rated amongst this lot. Her game second to Mysore Derby winner Wind Stream in a Million Event at that centre was her best performance. However, her subsequent runs had been quite pathetic. Dominic’s Stellar Ambition had run against some very good horses in the early stages of his career. He too had lost form gradually. Attaollahi’s Courage in Red was known to be a speedy type. His recent track trials had been extremely suggestive, and it was clear that he had been specifically targeted at this race. For this very reason, he was a marginal favourite ahead of Simply Stylish, Sebright and Stellar Ambition.

In a rare coincidence, the runners started and finished in the same order as indicated on the betting boards. Courage in Red went ahead of Simply Stylish, Sebright and Stellar Ambition. They raced in single file till the top of the straight. With Trevor holding the leader on a tight leash, the runners began to get closer at the bend. Only three lengths separated the four of them at that juncture. The four different camps were hoping for a favourable turn of events, but that never materialized. The moment Trevor relaxed his hold on the chestnut, the race was over. Courage In Red carried his jockey to a bloodless victory. Simply Stylish, Sebright and Stellar Ambition were put under pressure to retain their early positions. This “procession” wasn’t a true indication of the talent available at this centre. While there is no doubt that Courage In Red is a good youngster, there are many better ones that stayed away from this event.

A Class II sprint was the added attraction in the day’s card. After his victory last month, Dhariwal’s Alcazaar was well weighted in this race. The speedy three year old was receiving chunks of weight from his opponents. Even though there were a number of equally talented youngsters in the fray, it was felt that Alcazaar would be too strong for them. Trevor pushed Alcazaar into an early lead and the bay raced easily till the bend. Being a victim of some early jostling, Alcazaar’s stablemate Nickel Chrome had dropped back into the sixth position. The favourite enjoyed a healthy advantage into the straight. He skipped clear of the pack and looked like a winner as they entered the final furlong. It was at this stage that Nickel Chrome announced her arrival. The filly improved with every stride and joined the fray. Since she was moving better than the favourite, it was evident that she would “collar” him before the post. That is exactly what happened. Nickel Chrome got up in time to move ahead of Alcazaar near the winning line. Carducci and Affirmative made a late bid to scamper into third and fourth place respectively.

Trainer Amit Caddy’s large establishment had been going though a lean phase this winter. A solitary win in almost two months of racing was their score at the start of today’s action. The stable had entrusted a pair of fancied runners to Suraj Narredu on Friday. The leading jockey managed to steer Ibelieveinmiracles and Sicily to comfortable victories, thereby picking up both the divisions of The Smt Satyavathi V Char Memorial Cup. The seven furlong trip was ideally suited to their style of running, and Suraj rode almost identical races on both of them. After taking a smart jump astride Ibeliveinmiracles, he settled his mount behind Blue Star, Living Legend and Grand Success. With none of the prominent runners showing urgency, the order remained more or less the same as they approached the straight. Living Legend led briefly before he was joined by Ibeliveinmiracles. With Suraj making free use of his whalebone, he sped away to a convincing victory. Miss Ching appeared late on the very wide outside to dethrone Living Legend from his runner-up berth.

A couple of races later, it was the turn of Sicily. Last outing winners No Doubt and Sicily were carrying penalties into this race, while Cinnamon Rush retained his rating. The last named was the medium of some spirited betting, and the odds against him kept shortening as the runners made their way towards the starting gates. In the hands of David Allan, Cinnamon Rush performed like a damp squib and failed to figure on the board. On the other hand, Sicily and African Queen raced prominently and fought out a stirring duel. The pair tracked Kripa into the straight and moved ahead of him thereafter. Since Suraj and Sicily were on the inside, they had the support of the rails. Vaibhav produced African Queen towards the centre of the track and asked her to “go”. There was little doubt that Sicily was travelling better than the filly. He kept responding to Suraj’s stick and maintained his advantage till the very end. Despite Mudassar dropping his whip in the final furlong, Kripa managed to hang onto the third spot ahead of a hard ridden No Doubt.

Arjun Mangalorkar and John combined effectively to land the other double on Friday. It began with the opening race of the day. Three year old Greyconnection had served notice of an early victory by running a fair race in a higher category. She had made up much ground from the rear to dead-heat for the third spot. She was running over a similar trip of a mile, but this time, it was in a lower category. Refusing to look beyond Greyconnection, the punters backed her at every price with the bookmakers. Their confidence was justified by the filly’s performance. Since she was carrying the top weight, John rode her patiently. He nursed her till the bend before moving ahead of runaway leader Turf Fame. A couple of taps at that stage was all that was required. She galloped well within herself to keep Segomo and a tired Turf Fame at bay.

Anna was the second leg of Arjun and John’s double. She was running in a group of twelve that had accepted to participate in a sprint reserved for horses five years old and over and rated 40-65. She was the only one that had won a race this season. Despite a penalty, Anna definitely had the best form in this race. Even though there was huge support for Abnoba, Anna remained glued to the top of the betting boards. With Game Dancer setting a scorching pace, the field was strung out in single file as the runners moved towards the final bend.  Anna and Foswell were way behind the front-runners at this stage. Both these horses made their bid at almost an identical juncture. Anna responded gamely to John’s urgings and was soon at the helm of affairs. She gained further momentum to move away from the others. Weaving his way through a bunch of tired horses, Foswell cantered into second place. After losing ground at the start, Super Surprise did well to save place money for his supporters. This horse looked well in the parade ring, and with today’s experience under his belt, can be expected to win in the near future. On the other hand, Abnoba burst a blood vessel and finished in the ruck.

On-money favourite Mitraya was lucky to find herself in the lower division of the above mentioned sprint. With the quality of her opposition being poor, the mare received one-sided support in this race. This Byramji trained five year old had shown glimpses of her old form by ending a close third on the opening day of this season. Her subsequent track trials had been suggestive and there was little doubt that she was ready to “strike”.  Srinath chose to ride her differently in this race. In most of her earlier starts Mitraya was pushed to make the early running, but her present partner chose to wait today. He allowed Thrillseeker and A Move To Remember to go ahead of Mitraya, and settled his mount comfortably in third place. After taking the final bend, he found space towards the inner rails. Mitraya was quick to seize this opening. She increased the tempo and sailed away from Thrillseeker and a late finishing Day Trader.

Irfan Ghatala’s got-abroad three year old Shivalik Fire posted the easiest victory of the afternoon. Running in the last race of the day, he won as he liked and re-confirmed the fine impression that he had made in an earlier start. The gray had ended a fine second to Art Of Enchantment in summer. Horses like Chiron, Volcano and The Muse were amongst those in the beaten brigade. If one was to consider what the others had done subsequently, it was easy to conclude that Shivalik Fire would score easily in today’s set. Since he was running in a field of fifteen, and also that he was appearing on a race track after a longish gap of five months, the odds against Shivalik Fire began to expand as the horses reached the starting gates. Those who had backed him were delighted to see him travelling in the back-stretch. He moved smoothly out of an extreme draw, and travelled well within himself till the top of the bend. Paul Mulrennan took the middle path between early leaders Resurgent and Sumitomo, and pressed the accelerator. Shivalik Fire darted forward and strode away from a hard ridden Sumitomo. Dance Of  A General made up much ground from the back to finish a close third. Shivalik Fire has shown that he belongs to a much higher category.