The opening day of the winter meet at the Calcutta racecourse, on the eve of the ‘festival of lights’, proved to be a boon for punters as seven totalisator favourites obliged in a card of eight races, the exception being Double Do - who was second in demand to Macedonian in the sprint for The Usher Handicap.

The pair of classy fillies, Shaktiroop and Adiella, were the cynosure of all eyes during the day and it came as no surprise to the aficionados of the game when they recorded facile victories in their respective races. This pair is likely to spearhead the local talent pool when the Calcutta 1000 Guineas is run three weeks from now.

Arti Doctor-trained Shaktiroop (Noverre-Ridiyza) lifted the Bahrain Cup with jockey PS Chouhan never letting her off the bridle. The filly won easier than verdict as she collared front-running Andreus with a degree of comfort. Vijay Singh-trained Adiella (Multidimensional-Psychic Flame) made every post of the seven furlong race for the Nero Handicap a winning one, giving jockey Christopher Alford an armchair ride. The best of the rest was Leandro.

The afternoon commenced with apprentice jockey Munna Alam pulling off a great win for the Vijay Singh stable while astride the three-year-old colt Alarbus (Mr Mellon-Associate). Sreevahini and PS Chouhan  were on a start-to-finish mission and appeared to be heading for the winning post when apprentice Alam decided otherwise. He did his best to coax a gallop out of his mount opposite the stands and it paid rich dividends at the wire.

The combination of Vijay Singh and Christopher Alford recorded their first victory when Fervent Quest made every post a winning one in the seven-furlong race for the Voltige Handicap. Though this fashionably bred filly by Placerville out of Fervent Wish won in the lowest class, it would be fair to say that she has more races in store for her, possibly over extended trips. The runner-up Sham Sunder, from Vikash Jaiswal’s yard, put in a fairly good effort in the hands of apprentice Md Javed.

Trainer Jaiswal however tasted success in the very next event as jockey PS Chouhan rode a flawless race astride aged Spectacular Style to hoist the winning flag in the race for the lower division of The Coxcomb Handicap. The second favourite Hell On Heels was always at the heels of the victor but failed to accelerate at a crucial juncture near the distance post.

Monsoon absentee Bharath Singh returned to the fray with the fairly impressive victory of his ward Double Do. Jockey Trevor Patel let Macedonian call the shots till the distance post where he stepped on the ‘gas pedal’ with a couple of cracks of his whalebone. The sprinter by Ajaad out of Paddington Green responded gamely to his rider’s call. The runner-up Macedonian, from Manvendra Singh’s stable, will however be worth keeping an eye on in the near future.

Manvendra led in the first of his two winners of the day when yet another top class filly, from the famed red-and-gold Khaitan stable, called Artesia, made light work of her heavy impost. Sired by Multidimensional out of Trois Etoiles, the youngster gave jockey Christopher Alford an armchair ride in The Meg Merrilies Handicap. It would be fair to state that second favourite Assassin was completely outclassed.

Both Manvendra and Trevor completed a brace each for the day as they combined to bring the curtain down with Seafarer (Burden Of Proof-Seagazer), an useful three-year-old sprinter who thus notched up his second consecutive triumph.