The three-month monsoon meeting came to an end last Wednesday after 23 racedays. Rainy weather is a part and parcel of the season but fortunately, on D-day it was warm and sunny. The highlight of the season was undoubtedly the Monsoon Derby with a paypacket to the winner of over Rs 50 lakh. Though the leading stables of Vijay Singh and Bharath Singh enjoy a fair sprinkling of classy youngsters, none of them could match the class of Pesi Shroff’s filly Tiger Tops who finished third in the Bangalore Summer Derby. Sired by Tiger Hill out of Cockayne (Sohna Stud), the filly hardly had a week to prepare at this centre and yet walloped her seven rivals. She had travelled well and the connections were confident. Nevertheless, the filly was available at evens, possibly in view of this being her first run at this centre against the famed red-and-gold brigade  who had three in the line-up of eight, including final entrant Fly Like The Wind, who had incurred a late-entry fee of Rs 9 lakh.

Last monsoon, the renowned trainer Shroff had grossly underestimated the might of the red-and-gold brigade and sent Knight Of Ke who finished dead last. This year however, he seemed to have adjusted the cross-hairs and sent a truly classy filly. As the starter sounded the gun, the forward favourite from western India was first out of the gates but as if on cue, the stable of Vijay Singh used Aptness (ironically with local injured champ C.Alford astride) as a pacemaker, possibly in the hope of upsetting the outstation challenger. But, it was not to be. In fact, jockey Zervan seemed quite happy to sit behind the pacemaker and wait for him to run out of gas, which he eventually did near the 600 marker. Hoping to pounce on the favourite were the pair of The General and Fly Like The Wind. But their hopes were dashed by the quick-fire acceleration of the eventual winner who kept increasing the lead till Zervan eventually eased her off fifty metres from home.

The second half of the season also saw trainer Manvendra Singh come into his own with a first-time treble and a maiden quadruple on consecutive race-days. He is obviously a trainer who believes in thorough preparation before taking a shot at the target. It takes all types to make racing at a centre interesting and competitive and Manvendra’s modus operandi is the direct opposite of Vikash Jaiswal’s who uses frequent raceruns to come down the handicap ladder before making a go for it. Coming back to the former, his superior client base ought to see him perform well in the forthcoming winter meeting which is scheduled to start on November 1. What was even more impressive was that two of his youngsters which hoisted the winning flag were first-timers (Miraculix and Praise Her Gaze). He is fortunate to have found an able apprentice in Hindu Singh who opened his career account with a filly called Resolution.

 This monsoon, trainer Vijay Singh too enjoyed a highly successful season as he left his rivals way behind. He surprised all and sundry with a five-year-old mare called Almarada (Royal Gladiaor – Almara/Pratap Stud) who started the meeting at the top of Class VB and ended at the bottom of Class I with four wins and a second to be nominated the horse of the season. His Free Energy (Phoenix Tower-Freefall/ Manjri Stud) surprised in the Colts Trial Stakes where much fancied Mr Gorgeous finished in the ruck. Patrick Quinn’s Assassin (Juniper-Midsummer Romance/ Capricorn Stud) was another horse who has quickly reached the highest category after three impressive wins.

 The new handicapper Prabir Koner has worked diligently and done a fairly good job, ensuring quite a few close finishes. Members of the team of Stipendiary Stewards (led by VP Racing Robin Corner), who had held this portfolio in the past, were his mentors and the guidance seemed to be in the right direction. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating and the final day photo-finish between Phy Eau Liang and Gorgeous Girl was truly spectacular – the former was penalised 6kg and the latter dropped 1.5kg. Both runners used apprentices to good effect.

It is a fact that the narrow monsoon track can be a bit of a night mare for a majority of the young apprentices and we can surely expect a better performance from them in the forthcoming winter meeting. If they focus on the job at hand and put their heart and soul in it, there is no reason why this centre can’t produce a Yash Narredu or Kiran Rai.  Another point that these lads have to keep in mind is to maintain their riding weight at a decent mark. Munna Alam is one boy who has a lot of promise but needs to keep the latter in mind.

Unfortunately last season’s champion jockey, Christopher Alford, suffered an injury at the stables mid-way through the season and we didn’t get to see the best of him. He is bound to return for the winter meet with all guns blazing.

At this centre, we have one of the best young commentators in the country in Anit Casyab. His powerful vocal chords and excellent reading of a race has endeared him to the majority of ISBO punters at other metros as well. One certainly hopes that he will mature with age and not migrate to any other centre. It would be worth mentioning here that the well known sporting personality (in more senses than one), Enrico Piperno, who was invited to the Stewards’ post at RCTC this season, has been extremely humble and magnanimous to chip in as a commentator whenever called upon.

The local winter track has always lived up to expectations and is an integral part of producing good racing. This year too, the track will be ready for use from day one (November 1) says General Manager Racing Amit Chaturvedi who has been supervising its upkeep.