The running of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at the Calcutta racecourse on Saturday proved to be a graveyard for punters as quite a few fancied runners fell by the wayside after favourites had boosted the confidence level of turfites by bagging the first three events.

The day’s plum, The Queen Elizabeth II Cup, run over a mile-and-three-quarter, saw top-weight An Acquired Taste close as the public choice, but was never in with a chance. He graced the wrong end of the field throughout the marathon trek. Second favourite Arabian Warrior was on a start-to-finish mission in the hands of low-weight jockey Zervan and it is difficult to fault him on any count. He varied the pace to a nicety and appeared to have the race in his grasp near the distance post. How wrong, despite being worse off by a good 6.5kg and 2 ½ lengths after their Calcutta Derby clash, Daniel David’s Captain Courageous and Sreekanth lapped up the extra 400 metres when the front-runner began to wilt. It was in fact Artesia who played the bridesmaid for a second successive time despite being burdened by a similar disadvantage at weights. What was encouraging for the present crop was that the first three finishers were all four-year-olds.

The David-Sreekanth combo had one race earlier pocketed the Acorn Stakes by pegging back the half-money public choice Deserving Visit while astride Sylvana. It would be fair to say that jockey C.Alford’s handling of the public choice was a trifle soft and overconfident. Following stablemate Clear Opportunity at close quarters till the bend, Deserving Visit went ahead thereafter but never looked convincing once showed daylight. With nothing to lose, jockey Sreekanth hand in the meanwhile improved the 6/1 shot Sylvana gradually from mid-division and went hell for leather in the final furlong to edge past the favourite at the wire. It was the horsemanship which made the difference.

Visiting jockey Sandesh too completed a well-deserved brace. He lifted the CROS Cup with the 2/1 favourite Pedro from Bath’s yard and then capitalised on a chance ride atop Lake Leader as PS Chouhan failed to show up in the city.

Sandesh rode a measured race on Pedro as he sailed past front-running Divine Dimension in the straight before taking his foot off the accelerator. Shourisha, who has been known to be a tardy beginner, came with a late run along the rails to occupy the runner-up berth.

In The Philippines Cup, Sandesh rode a gem of a finish on 6/1 shot Lake Leader from Patrick Quinn’s yard to squeeze a passage along the rails and get the better of front-running public choice War Games inside the distance.

The first big upset of the day was Bharath Singh’s Flying Boy who treated his rivals with utter disdain in the upper division of The Portugal Cup. Jockey MF Ali Khan thus notched up his second win of the season astride the five-year-old. The disappointment in the race was Adelino who seemed utterly disinterested in the proceedings. The favourite Greased Lightnin seemed to lack the acceleration that a prospective winner needs to show once shown daylight in the straight.

Vikash Jaiswal’s Combined Operation, with Gajender Singh astride, made the lower division of the Portugal Cup a start-to-finish affair. The favourite Essenza tried her utmost to reverse the verdict but the experienced miler got the better of the ‘still-maiden’ youngster in a close contest.

Trainer Vijay Singh completed a well-backed double in the first two races of the afternoon as first-timer Alondra gave a lesson in sprinting to her 10 rivals in the Ireland Cup while Exclusive Colours was handled with great expertise by C.Alford to get the better of Chalaque close home in The French Cup. It was a dream start for punters who later in the day got the wrong end of the stick.