Calcutta’s Friday afternoon races turned out to be a graveyard for on-money favourites, though fancied runners at lucrative odds did find the winner’s enclosure. Prominent among the jockeys was heavyweight from the south, S. John, who recorded a superb treble with Macedonian, Copernicus and Pretty Woman. There were doubles galore as trainers Bharath Singh and Shafiq Khan cashed in, as did visiting jockey A Sandesh  who had drawn a blank last time out.

The running of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy saw John exploit Shafiq Khan-schooled Pretty Woman’s current form by keeping the speedster by Chevalier out of Aerodynamic  in check, behind pace-setter Amorino, and then going hell for leather while runner-up Treasure Island was raw to the core – running all over the track before taking the bend eight wide and then drifting in.

For aficionados of the game, the run of Snowscape in the PC Lall of Nazargunj Memorial Cup was a far more interesting affair. After a dismal monsoon season, the well-prepared colt by China Visit out of Snow Tiger displayed his penchant for the winter track and returned to form in great style. Shailesh Shinde kept the grey a handy fifth till heads turned for home while the likes of Beyond Star, Su Chaliyo and Berlusconi fought up front. He then cleverly utilised a rails run to bring home the bacon for the Vijay Singh stable.

An equally enterprising ride saw western India’s Sandesh land the spoils with Bharath Singh-trained Scuderia in the race for the BOL Publication Cup. The lad dropped out the forward filly to the last position after a good jump-out – a very well thought out tactical manoeuvre that no doubt helped the chestnut negotiate the mile trip successfully for the first time in her career. Sandesh brought the filly with telling strides along the rails to get the better of Chala Ja Bachha by the proverbial whisker.

John’s first winner of the day was top-weight Macedonian in the upper division of the Bengal Area Cup. He made every post of the six-furlong trip a winning one. Royal Scots followed him all the way while the disappointment in the race was the on-money public choice Noble And Nice who was never in it – not so noble and definitely nice. For reasons best known to his connections, the racetrack grapevine had it that the colt  was definitely not worth a wager.

John doubled his tally with a smart ride on Copernicus in the Selector Handicap. After gracing the rear of the large field for most part, the Shafiq Khan colt came with a lightning run in the straight to leave the field standing. The favourite Modus Vivendi was a poor seventh.

The lower division of the Bengal Area cup proved to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller as Bharath Singh-trained Double Do staved off a strong challenge from Anassa and Abarth to hoist the winning flag, much to the delight of his backers. He was one of the two short-priced favourites to win during the afternoon, the other being Iron Lady in the curtain-raiser. Sandesh managed to coax a winning gallop out of the Robert Gowli-trained filly in the straight to get the better of runaway Hell On Heels. Ballet Belle’s run was extremely poor to say the least.

Sreekanth however made amends with Angels Quest in the race for the upper division of the Red Bay Handicap.  The Daniel David ward finally came good after playing bridesmaid on several occasions. The lower division of the same event saw Md Javed produce an encore with Richard Alford-trained In The Twilight. The sprint was a virtual repetition of her earlier effort where she had got the better of Alarbus. On this occasion, she made the on-money favourite Flash eat humble pie as Javed rode her out vigorously along the outer rails.

All in all, it was an entertaining Friday afternoon of racing here that witnessed quite a few promising and upcoming youngsters who may be worth following.