Despite the absence of the wonder-colt Multitude, The Calcutta Million with a take-home winner’s purse of Rs 25 lakh plus, produced its share of thrills and spills -- although it must be added that the fall of Mahesh from Secret Society was extremely unfortunate and uncalled for, as he was the pace-maker and had no earthly, visible reason for such an accident. This was the second Vijay Singh runner to fall within a week and subsequently put down on humanitarian grounds. Mahesh is recovering at a city nursing home, but suffering from back pain.

Zervan and Captain Cook were in close touch with the front-runner and did well to avoid the falling horse, other than which there would have been an utter disaster and pile-up of runners. The spot where the front-runner fell (midway up the straight) seems to have the affinity of the Bermuda triangle, as that is pretty much where several other runners have fallen in the past.

Both his nearest challengers, Waveafterwave and Setaflame, were on his outside and behind him and made their move subsequently, by which time the son of Admiralofthefleet out of Polenta (Kunigal Stud) had already put the issue beyond the reach of his rivals. However, PS Chouhan astride Setaflame displayed admirable resolve to finish within a length of the winner.

The win of Agatta in the Governor’s Cup was surprising to say the least. Not only was the five-year-old mare 4.5kg out of the scale but Chouhan’s over-weight of 1.5 kg made it a grand total of six. The handicapper is sure to take that into consideration before he gives her a new mark. The half-money favourite Free Energy finished in the ruck  after some early promise,  while his stablemate Arktouros was never a serious trier. It was to Chouhan’s credit that he brought the mare  by Ikhtyar out of Jalapeno (Nanoli Stud) with giant strides on the wide outside as the front-runner Sergeant Major (also out of the scale by a considerable margin)  was shortening his strides. Gentle Knowledge was a creditable runner-up and was the only genuine Class I horse who put up a good show.

Trainer Arti Doctor and his trusted knight Kamlesh completed a brace by lifting the Indian Air Force Cup with FireAngel and The CROS Cup with Speedy Gonsalves. While Kamlesh had to stretch himself and his mount Fire Angel (New Famous-Firefoot/ Yervada Stud) to get the better of Anassa and Alondra, his triumph astride Speedy Gonsalves (Win Legend-Ray Of Sunshine/ Dashmesh Stud) was smooth and without any hitches whatsoever.

The afternoon commenced on a good note for suspended trainer Vikash Jaiswal as his I Me N Myself (Noverre-Sexy Gal/ Sohana Stud) beat Alicante to win the Royal Blue Star Handicap. With Rutherford deputising for Jaiswal, the filly was always maintained in striking position behind front-running Alicante and shot ahead at the distance post. The favourite Raw Silk looked a little out of depth over seven furlongs.

The afternoon’s hottest favourite, Noverro, let down a host of followers as he finished a tame third. Last time failure Sthenios (Stardan-Chitrita/ Rolli Stud) ran like a champion on this occasion with his blinkers off and made every post a winning one in the race for the Dasho Lhendup Dorji Memorial Cup. Shailesh Shinde rode the Shyam Habbu ward to give the trainer his first taste of victory this season.

It was also a maiden win on the Calcutta track for Yash Narredu who rode  Bharath Singh-trained Torino (Rebuttal-Persian delight/ Hazara Stud)to a chanceless victory in the race for the Eastern Air Command Cup. Praise Her Gaze was the only runner who posed a threat but young Yash seemed to have the situation well under control in the final furlong.

The curtain came down with Christopher Gleich-trained Princess Thea (Rambus- Baby Don) making every post a winning one in the hands of apprentice Ranidan Singh. Sreeyantra followed her home while public choice Romancer was out at weights.