The curtain came down on the fairly short Calcutta Monsoon Season of 22 days with Robert Gowli-trained Malpensa lifting the prestigious Monsoon Cup after a hard-fought duel with aged Arktouros. Allowing the Khaitan pair of Aerator and Arktouros to call the shots till the distance post, jockey Sandesh brought Malpensa with a strong gallop in the straight. The latter’s stablemate Silverina did raise a gallop in the home run but failed to match the eventual winner.

The S. Rahamathulla Memorial Cup saw Javed Khan-trained Win Again come good in the hands of Shailesh Shinde. The favourite Berlusconi is now a shadow of his old self while top-weight Star Empire was badly out at weights to  the winner. Front-running Batista hung on to the runner-up berth.

Champion jockey Christopher Alford notched up a double with Tough One and Adiella. In his earlier essay, Christopher had given the former a forward run and on this occasion, he cleverly held back The Shafiq Khan runner till the straight to get the better of the favourite Roman Centurion who was threatening to pull away after collaring the front-running Speed Angel.

Christopher completed his brace with Vijay Singh-trained filly Adiella. The classy filly by Multidimensional out of Psychic Flame was having her first outing after eight months, but did not disappoint. She however had to thwart a strong challenge from Welcome Smile and Apical Finala.

Neeraj Rawal picked up a race when he piloted Bath-trained Dancing Dame to a comfortable victory over Secret Whispers in The Vasto Handicap. Eros, with PS Chouhan astride finished a close third.

There were a couple of outsiders during the afternoon. The first of these was Sabeel Shariff-trained Divine Symphony with Janardhan Paswan astride. The top-weight had no difficulty whatsoever in collaring Isle Of Capri and run away for an easy victory. Spectacular Style (S. John up) once again occupied the runner-up berth while the other fancied runner Chhundu was an utter disappointment.

Romancer was backed to the exclusion of all others in The Whiplash Handicap and he did not disappoint. The win also broke the drought that B. Sreekanth has been experiencing at this centre. Conquerable was never in the hunt while Flash was a creditable runner-up.

The curtain came down on the monsoon meet with unfancied Bongani giving apprentice Rajinder Singh his first win. The favourite Sokudo was a disappointment as was the other fancied runner Alacrity.

LEADING PROFESSIONALS

Trainer: Vijay Singh

Jockey : Christopher Alford

Apprentice: Zarar Alam

Leading Owner: Mr Deepak Khaitan

Champion Horse: Argiano

Horse of the Season: Dandified

LEADING TIPSTERS

RCTC TIPSTERS CUP (based on tote dividends with a cap of 100 points per race)

Winner: www. indiarace.com

Runner Up: Vishwamitra (vernacular daily)

RCTC TIPSTERS TALLY

Winner: Ei Samay (vernacular daily of Times group)

Runner Up: Times Of India