If the punters in the soccer-crazy ‘City of Joy’ were stunned into pin-drop silence (like the rest of the world) by the utter demolition of their darling team Brazil earlier in the week, then they can cheer up and find their vocal chords once again, as the Calcutta Monsoon Meeting is set to kick off with a bang on Tuesday. The thunder of hooves on their own backyard will undoubtedly help local turfites fill the void that the closure of the highly popular quadrennial tournament will leave after 30 days of thrills and spills.

Twenty-three race-days have been scheduled over the next four months, concluding on Wednesday, October 15. During that period, 162 races are slated to be conducted, 43 of these being Cup events. Some of the major events given below are:

The Calcutta Juvenile Sprint: August 16

The Calcutta Monsoon Sprint: August 30

The Calcutta Fillies Trial Stakes : September 6

The Calcutta Colts Trial Stakes: September 6

The Stewards Cup: September 20

The Calcutta Monsoon Derby: October 5

The Calcutta Monsoon Cup: October 11

In keeping with the keen interest displayed by the local railbirds over the Calcutta rainy season of thoroughbred racing, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club has increased the advertised stake money by a substantial 15 per cent over last year’s monsoon meet. Of this amount, nine per cent is allotted to handicap races while the balance has been distributed by way of incentive to owners. The total stake money for the season is Rs 8.42 crores while cups and trophies are worth over Rs 11 lakhs.

While the redoubtable Singh brothers (Vijay and Bharath) will undoubtedly try to rake in a major portion of the stake money into their respective coffers, some of the other men to follow during the early part of the season would be Javed Khan, Patrick Quinn, Manvendra and Shafiq Khan. Conspicuous by his absence will be trainer Daniel David who is under suspension during the monsoon meet. The horses running in the colours of Dr MAM Ramaswamy will be under the care of Errol Bhungard. There will be a total of 21 ‘A’ licensed trainers and a couple ‘B’ licensed trainers in the form of S. Padmanabhan and Darius Byramji.

While local regulars like Christopher Alford and Shailesh Shinde will once again be donning silks for the leading red-and-gold stable of Mr Deepak Khaitan, visiting jockeys like Trevor Patel and PS Chouhan are certain to make their task a lot more difficult during the major race-days. Rather sadly and unfortunately, the man who built up a considerable following at this centre – B. Sreekanth, will not be seen in action this season as a result of a serious injury to himself. One can only wish him a speedy recovery.

A total of 579 horses are currently stabled at this centre, of which 429 are three-year-olds and over, while 150 are two-year-olds. The three-year-olds who made an impression during the winter and are likely to be seen in action during the monsoon classics are Meet The Legend, Sunshine Girl, Running Thunder, Fly Like The Wind, Ace Glory, Santos, Confidence and No Looking Back. There will no doubt be others waiting in the wings to surprise all and sundry. After all, some of these youngsters are known to improve in leaps and bounds and punters have to be alert to that fast changing factor.

This centre has had more than its usual share of rain during the past month or so and the unique monsoon track at this centre is certain to run true to form from day-one. As a result of successfully experimenting with 1600 metres races last monsoon, RCTC have framed 21 events over that trip this season. However, there can only be a maximum of eight runners in races framed over the said distance of 1600 metres. The new handicapper Prabir Koner has an interesting season ahead of him and is expected to do justice to his extremely responsible job.

All in all, it ought to be a monsoon season of racing with plenty to offer for the regulars and the aficionados of the game.