It was a dramatic Tuesday afternoon’s racing at Calcutta  from the outset with apprentice JK Prasad riding a ‘flawless’ first winner of his career astride the 4/1 top-weight favourite  Glorious Song from Daniel David’s stable. The filly by Oath out of Metalique was unplaced till date but overhauled her rivals in the mile race for the Adelita Cup effortlessly. Prior to race, the grapevine had it that this was in fact that the ‘gamble’ of the day for those in the know. Unfortunately, there were not too many of those, which is one of the reasons why she closed a favourite at lucrative odds. Ice Festival, with Trevor Patel astride, finished a creditable second.

There was more in store in the first race of the day as Totalize fell near the 800 marker and had to be put down. Promising apprentice Zarar Alam, who was astride the horse in recovering at a local nursing home after the serious fall but it may take a little time according to official sources. Other apprentices substituted him for the rest of his engagements during the day.

In the main event, Alam was substituted by Arman Khan atop the 7/2 favourite Star Empire. The apprentice took his mount to the front early in the race, followed by Batista. At the top of the straight, the duo were joined by Vijay Monarch on the outside and Win Again along the rails. Mahesh rode a power-packed finish astride the Javed Khan runner by Sussex out of Dancing Diane to ultimately prevail quite comfortably over the surprise package Vijay Monarch. Batista ran on to finish third while Social Network was taken very wide before ending up a poor fourth.

Trainer Patrick Quinn and jockey Imran Chisty have well and truly thrown the gauntlet in the trainers’ and jockeys’ championships with a brace and a treble respectively. While Quinn has now established an useful lead over Bharath Singh, Chisty is right there with the likes of Shailesh Shinde and Christopher Alford who drew a blank on the afternoon.

Trainer Javed Khan had started the ball rolling for Imran Chisty when his mount Conquest (Mull Of Kintyre-Shfoug) made every post a winning one in the lower division of the Moon Forest Handicap. The on-money favourite for the race Anassa drifted to the outer rails and lost all her chances.

 In the upper division of the same race, Arti Doctor-trained Fire Angel (New Famous-Firefoot) with Kamlesh in the saddle, got the better of In The Twilight in a close finish, while the piping hot on-money favourite Copernicus was a tame third after showing some sparkle opposite the grandstand. This was the second successive failure as a favourite of the Bharath Singh ward. The trainer had a lean afternoon as his colt Impressive Move was the least impressive in the small field of four for the Star Angel Handicap. Patrick Quinn’s Voyager, with Shailesh Shinde astride, won the last named race by getting the measure of top-weight front-runner Risky Business near the distance post.

Quinn completed his double for the day when Chisty piloted the 6/4 favourite Snowball to a fairly comfortable victory over Hurricane Star in the Retained Asset Handicap. The colt by Warrshan out of Regal Fantasy was right behind front-runner Ocean Clipper till the top of the straight before pulling away. Hurricane Star was in hot pursuit but to no avail.

Quinn would have added one more to his tally had not Ranjeet Singh astride Errol Bhungard-trained Apical Finala displayed great resolve and determination in the race for the Artwork Handicap. Quinn’s Gluteus Maximus had stolen a march at the top of the straight but fell short by a whisker at the winning post. The favourite Haddock had joined the tussle for supremacy in the straight but faded out as he found the other two a little too hot to handle. Nevertheless, Haddock continued to earn his corn bill (or should I say fish-feed) on a regular basis. Good for him but bad for his backers.

One of the few favourites to oblige on the day was Combined Operation in the final event. The Bath-Chisty combo pulled off a regulation victory on this on-money runner but not before Mahesh and Asian Rocket had given them a fright at the top of the straight. The ‘Rocket’ was truly moving like a rocket along the rails after heads turned for home but found his crushing impost a stopper, other than which he may well have reversed the placings.