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BULLET IS BANG ON TARGET

By Epsom Ace | 12 Jan 2013 | KOLKATA


Trainer Imtiaz A Sait Leading Bullet (C Alford Up), winner of The Calcutta Champions Sprint Trophy (Gr.3)

 

The eve of the Calcutta Derby belonged to trainer Patrick Quinn as he pulled off a stunning quadruple with Sreeyantra (3/1) , Blooming Girl (10/1), Beyond Stars (5/2) and Star Empire (10/1). Barring Blooming Girl who was piloted by Shailesh Shinde, the rest were guided home by Imran Chisty.

Trainer Imtiaz Sait enjoys keeping his wards for a big occasion and his six-year-old gelding Bullet (Major Impact-Euro Star) drove home the point with a comprehensive triumph in the Calcutta Champions Sprint Trophy in the safe hands of Christopher Alford. Kept a handy fourth till the turning for home, Bullet swept past front-running Rising Power in a trice and pulled away as Alford switched on the throttle. The winner was available at 10/1.

Imran Chisty and Patrick Quinn opened their account in the upper division of the Nirad Karanjawalla Cup with Sreeyantra (Hammerstein-Nasreen) who drifted out in the straight but was put on even keel thereafter. The favourite Sham Sunder made a bold bid down the inside but Chisty kept his mount going to win quite comfortably in the end. The lower division of the same race will be run on Sunday.

Blooming Girl (Mull Of Kintyre-Surge With Class) was cleverly piloted by Shinde who kept her on check on the outside while the two fancied runners Words and Scuderia battled for the Rajcoomar Gujadhur Memorial Cup. In the straight, Shinde went for it and the filly was the best moving of the trio.

Quinn completed his hat-trick with a memorable victory in the Pat Quinn Memorial Cup named after his late father. Chisty rode a power-packed finish atop Beyond Stars (Stardan-Naivement)  to ward off the course the favourite Al Attaturk and the fast-finishing Winds Of The Ocean.

Quinn and Chisty combined to bring home the bacon with Star Empire (Razeen-Anagram) in the seven-furlong race for the PC Lall of Nazargunj Memorial Cup. After two forward runs, the seasoned gelding was held in check behind surprise front-runner Hall Of Glory. Once in the straight, it was all over bar the shouting. The fancied runners like Da’artagnan and Shershah were never in it.

Arti Doctor-trained Wild Card (New Famous-Rasha) was ridden to victory  in the Captain HD Fownes Cup, with a fine piece of opportunism by jockey Kamlesh. From a position in mid-division, he opted for the rails and staved off a determined bid from Torch Of Life (Chisty up).

Manavendra Singh’s Smart Hunter (Royal Kingdom-Sunspangled) was the afternoon’s most facile winner as he won the MB Medhora Cup effortlessly in the hands of Trevor Patel. He was also the shortest priced winner of the day.

Yet another outsider, Shafiq Khan’s Stupid Cupid (Harish up) brought the curtain down by bagging the Pearson Surita Memorial Cup. The gelding by Epicentre out of on The Trail was ridden off the pace on this occasion and weaved his way to the front of the field as the runners hit the home stretch. It was a well-thought out ploy by the connections as there were several other front-runners who were vying for the early lead.