Punters got the rough end of the stick at Calcutta’s mid-week races as most of the public choices nosedived. The running of the Desert Blaze Cup saw Manvendra Singh’s Signor Sassi defy the 4kg penalty and peg back Follow The Dream without much ado. The five-year-old dark bay gelding thus notched up a hat-trick of wins this season. Kishore Kadam, who rode the winner, completed a deserving treble during the afternoon. Permitting the runaway Accurate to lead till the distance post, both Follow The Dream and Signor Sassi challenged the front-runner almost simultaneously. Though the former was marginally better at weights, the latter’s phenomenal improvement during the monsoon meet saw him through. Fancied runners like Sunny Sue and Arrow In Auto Mode have yet to peak and were left cold by the two season winners in the race.

Kadam opened his account with Deepak Karki-trained Saddle Chief in the curtain-raiser. Thrown in at weights, Saddle Chief won the upper division of the Predator Handicap after being quietly fancied by the stable. The ante-post favourite Classical Romance set the pace till the home stretch before being overhauled by both Hurricane Bird and Saddle Chief. The latter was travelling by the far the better of the duo.

Kadam’s treble was completed with the start-to-finish victory of Sergeant Major in the Royal Mantle Handicap. Abarth was a notable runner-up while the rest of the field was not sighted.

The afternoon cannot end without drama and it was Shailesh Shinde’s turn to introduce that element into the day’s proceedings. The Bold Display Handicap lived up to his name as the piping hot on-money public choice Self Directed was mishandled ‘boldly’ by Shinde. After being slow into stride (for the first time this season), Shinde wasted no time in ensuring that the top-weight shoots into a four-length lead and maintains that at quite a pace without a semblance of a breather. If one compares this effort with colt’s previous run in the Affection Handicap (with C.Alford in the saddle) over an identical trip and at an almost identical pace, then one can fathom more clearly how ill-judged a race Shinde rode. As it was virtually a two-horse affair, it came as no surprise when American Pie completed the formalities. While it was mentioned in the selection column of this reputed website that ‘American Pie is the surprise package’, one did not expect that the task of the Shafiq Khan-ward would be facilitated in this manner by his closest rival. Jockey Parmar rode an inch-perfect race on the winner after being relieved to find that the pace-setter was none other than the half-money top-weight public choice.

For the record, both the winner and the runner-up are owned by honourable stewards of RCTC. Therefore, such lamentable handling of a half-money public choice by one of the centre’s leading riding talents does not reflect well on such a well-reputed turf body.

Punters however had reason to smile as Shafiq Khan-trained Bengal King mauled the opposition in the Avaglow Handicap. Jockey Parmar left nothing to chance after taking over the running from Arbroath in the straight. The well bred colt by Royal Gladiator out of Classic Ten has more races in store for him.

Trainer Christopher Gleich’s double-pronged attack on the lower division of the Predator Handicap paid off as Apyrous and Vaani finished one-two respectively, separated by the proverbial whisker. A bold gamble by the Vikash Jaiswal stable with River Pride (B.Gurang up) failed to materialise.

The curtain came down with apprentice jockey Ankit Kumar notching up his second win astride Rutherford Alford-trained Rappadan Glory. The trainer needs to be commended for the vast improvement made by this four-year-old who has taken a penchant to the sharp sprints.