It was indeed a grand Saturday afternoon at Calcutta for followers of trainer Manvendra Singh and jockey Christopher Alford. While the former notched up a treble, the latter nailed a high-priced double with Grand Design (8/1) and Law Supremo (5/2), both runners being owned by Mr YJ Dastoor.

The main event, The Police Commissioner’s Cup run over a sharp trip of 1100 metres, saw Law Supremo (West Virginia-Shades of Beauty/ Nakul Stud) and Alford shoot out of the gates like a scalded cat with Wild Cat in close touch. Just after the turning for home, Alford gave his mount his head and he pulled ahead with authority. However, Kamlesh kept working on the top-weight Wild Card and he came at him in the final furlong with telling strides. Alford remained calm and apart from a couple of cracks at the distance post to remind his mount that the race was still on, he rode him out hands-and-heels. Wild Card packs a little more stamina, but by the time  the latter had crossed the front-runner, the winning post had come to Alford’s rescue. Several in the crowd were under the impression that it may be a dead-heat but the camera gave the nod to Law Supremo – the official verdict being a ‘nose’.

The Nikita Handicap saw Arti Doctor’s Solitary Eagle backed to the exclusion of all others and close as the piping hot public choice. The recent winner with a 8 kg penalty on his shoulder was the first to jump out but was soon passed by the pace-setter Carnival Point with seven-year-old Grand Design (Intikhab-Octagleam) on the outside. As heads turned for home, Grand Design shot ahead smoothly while the favourite was being pushed to hold position. Soon, he was running a little race of his own with Self Directed to hold on to the runner-up position which he eventually succeeded in doing.

Between these two winners, Manvendra led in Praise Her Gaze (Express Wish- Foot Tapper/ Mebajeona Stud), who used apprentice Jorawar Singh’s 3.5kg allowance to good effect to get the better of bottom-weight Native Speaker who threatened to overhaul her in the straight. She subsequently shifted to the inside as the top-weight was drifting out of a straight course. The disappointment in the race was the other fancied runner Fashion Icon who seemed to be in all kinds of trouble. The only other runner of note was the initial pace-maker Secret Builder.

The morning showed the day as the favourites in the first two races took a dive. Both Sweet Suspense and I Me N Myself were no match for the pace-maker Isle Of Capri who was eventually collared by Jasbir Singh’s Abubble (China Visit-Deserving Lady/ Usha Stud) close home. In the lower division of The Little Lady Handicap, Land Of Glory’s efforts came to nought as Arti Doctor-trained Raw Silk (New Famous-Silken Magic/ Yeravada Stud)  shot ahead under the stick and then staved off a strong challenge from Ever Green. That was jockey Kamlesh’s sole winner of the afternoon.

The N Karanjawalla Cup went to rank outsider Talisman (Noverre-Debinnair/ Sohna Stud) who kept pegging away at Verena Rose to eventually come up trumps. The public choice Queen Bee failed to creative any impression and finished a tame third. The winner, trained by Bhungard was piloted by Vinay Jaiswal.

The curtain came down on a happy note for punters as despite an outside draw, Rutherford Alford’s even-money favourite Head Hunter (Emerald Cat-Flying Rani) was expertly handled by top-weight jockey Mahesh to land the spoils. Tracking Mr Positive till just after the turn, Head Hunter shot ahead and was kept going by Mahesh’s reminders.