It was mixed fortunes for punters at Saturday’s Calcutta races as the heavens opened up after the second race and some of the events were held in torrential rain. The feature however, The Alternator Cup, saw the on-money public choice Artesia (Multidimensional – Tres Etoiles/ Usha Stud) deliver the goods in the safe hands of Christopher Alford. This prized possession belonging to RCTC Chairman Mr Deepak Khaitan is under the care of trainer Manvendra Singh.

As jockey Y. Srinath was indisposed and failed to fulfil his engagements, he was substituted on his four mounts by S.Kamble and Md Islam, although it is a subjective matter whether the latter’s credentials are at par with Srinath’s. The rules warrant that a ‘jockey of equal merit’ or as close to that as locally available be used as a substitute. Whether any of Srinath’s mounts would have won anyway is another matter altogether. But in all fairness to punters, jockeys ought to be substituted with another of ‘equal merit’ or one as close to that as available. For this purpose, the race clubs in the country and JAI can join hands and categorise riders in three groups (A,B and C) to make their task easier. So a rider in category ‘A’ can only be substituted with another from the same category.

The four-horse field for the feature saw Aerator scoot away on a start-to-finish attempt with Malpensa in tow and Artesia and Star Symphony in close touch. The scenario changed just before the turning for home as Artesia made a quick forward move to take up the running. Malpensa and Shrikant Kamble did make up some leeway in the straight but by then the public choice was already in ‘safety zone’ and gave no unwanted jitters to her backers.

With the victory of Artesia, Christopher Alford completed a brace as he had earlier piloted Aptness (Steinbeck-Aptiana/ Usha Stud) to a thrilling victory over top-weight Marilyn in the Pompano Plate. The race was run in heavy rain and it needed all of Alford’s experience to gather the colt on his maiden start and overhaul the front-runner in the final 100 metres. After this eye-catching run, the defeated filly will be worth keeping an eye on.

The two divisions of the Vasto Cup were well-contested, interesting affairs. Though there were eight runners in the upper division, there were basically only two triers – recent winner Altanza and six-year-old top-weight Home Alone, who was at the top of the scale in Class II. One is not quite sure about the logic of declaring apprentice  Alam atop the filly as he could not avail of his 4kg allowance. Altanza lost some ground at the start and quickly made it up to take up the running in the straight but Mahesh was working hard on Patrick Quinn-trained Home Alone (Glory Of Dancer-Shockwave/ Kehelan Stud) who moved with giant strides near the distance post to sweep past the favourite in a trice.

The lower division saw Slade Valley and Clear Opportunity backed to the exclusion of all others. The six-furlong sprint was run in absolutely blinding rain and neither of the two backed horses could do justice to their potential. Vikash Jaiswal’s Apical Finala (Crown Jewels-Justice For All/ Noble Stud) pulled off an opportunistic victory in  the hands of brother Vinay. Follow The Dream ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

With apprentice Jorawar Singh using his allowance to good effect, Sabeel Shariff-trained Gararo (The Lady’s Groom – Cucina Cucina) made every post a winning one in The Bright Law Handicap, while the on-money public choice Fire Angel followed him all the way.

The first two races of the afternoon were held in warm sunshine. Vikash Jaiswal’s Dance In China won a mile-race for The Sans Ame Handicap while shouldering top-weight, in the hands of the competent Sandeep Rajput. Though the six-year-old by China Visit out of Born To Dance/ Usha Stud  was very much the form horse, he was neglected in the ring somewhat as money flowed in on the unlikely Parthenon, whose form-graph was ‘nil’ but the ‘grapevine graph’ had peaked last time out. Not-so-smart money also came on Crackle and the duo. not surprisingly, flopped. Bold Desire ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

Daylite (Kamble up) was the on-money choice for The Silver Dawn Handicap but he was unable to catch the runaway Altesino from Shyam Habbu’s yard. Sired by Royal Gladiator out of Antonietta (Pratap Stud), the four-year-old maiden starter made every post a winning one in the hands of Shailesh Shinde. The two preparatory mock races that the gelding was given obviously helped his cause.

Jasbir Singh-trained Amika (Senure – So Amazing / Manjri Stud) brought the curtain down by pegging back runaway, unfancied stablemate Artemisia close home. The winner was piloted by Mohit Singh. Persistence paid off for Jasbir as the mare had last won nearly 18 months ago when not in his stable.