Trainer Vijay Singh’s Dandified (Rebuttal-Dandoona/ Hazara Stud) continued his winning ways by bagging the Calcutta Champions Sprint Trophy on Saturday. Piloted by PS Chouhan as the stable’s leading rider C.Alford was indisposed, Dandified once again produced his trademark ‘late burst’ of speed in the home stretch to bring home the bacon for his connections on the eve of The Eveready Derby. However, the race was not without incident as the crack sprinter was taken out by Gentle Knowledge and Invincible Prince (under the domino effect) when he was making his bid on the wide outside. Despite this hindrance, the experienced seven-year-old came up trumps. The runner-up Gentle Knowledge was subsequently demoted to the fourth slot after an objection by the rider of Invincible Prince who finished fourth.

Champion trainer Vijay Singh set the ball rolling when apprentice Munna Alam won a close finish astride Magical Ability (Steinbeck-Magical Romance/ Usha Stud). Traversing a mile-and-quarter for the first time, the apprentice did well to keep the filly in touch with the front-runners till the turning for home where she took over. Though she shifted out a little under pressure, Alam managed to hang on to win by a slender margin when challenged strongly by Athletico.

Vijay completed his treble with Aptness (Steinbeck-Aptiana/ Usha Stud) who continues to defy the handicapper and deliver the goods. Chouhan made it a start-to-finish affair in the Eastern Command Cup while Torero followed him like a faithful puppy before surrendering the runner-up spot to Cohiba close home.

Speedy Noverro (Noverre-Erina/ Sohna Stud) from Bharath Singh’s yard was taken to the helm of affairs by Dashrath Singh as the gates opened for the Burning Fire Plate and stayed there all the way. Aided by an impressive mock race, Noverro was seen to draw away in the straight. The favourite Secret Society was the least impressive of all the fancied runners while Gimme Credit ran on to occupy the runner-up berth.

Arti Doctor’s Sole Power (China Visit – Silver Toy/ Usha Stud) completed a hat-trick of wins when he won the Pat Quinn Memorial Cup in great style in the hands of Kamlesh. The youngster appeared to lap up the extra furlong as he moved from a box seat along the rails to grab the lead from the front-runners on the inside. The minor placings saw Amanda and Iron Lady in a close verdict.

On the last occasion, Bharath Singh-trained Torino (Rebuttal – Persian Delight/ Hazara Stud) had gone down narrowly to hattricker Sole Power, and he somewhat justified the favourite status on this occasion with an extremely narrow victory in the hands of Sandesh. The jockey repeated his mount and rode him in similar fashion, as he gathered him up before making his final run to edge out Aithops at the post.

The lower division of the Lt Gen Jameel Mahmod Memorial Cup saw the biggest upset of the day as Bath-trained Secret Gloss (Quest Star-Park Petard) pulled off a miraculous victory with Islam astride. The totalisator win dividend was a mammoth Rs 656. Sreeputra led till the distance post where Oath Of Valour looked as if he may do the trick. But Islam had other ideas as he continued to work on his mount till the wire and it paid rich dividends for him and the connections.

The curtain came down with Shafiq Khan’s Royal Brute (Oath-Trillenium/ Pratap Stud) being given a great ride by Dashrath to land the spoils in the Aazish Handicap.