The final afternoon of the 19-day Calcutta Monsoon Meeting saw bookmakers and punters sharing the spoils as three favourites and two second-in-demand choices occupied the winner’s berth in a card of seven races. Both trainer Robert Gowli and jockey Shailesh Shinde picked up their respective championship titles as expected while youngster Hindu Singh was the most successful apprentice of the meet. Soom Stud Farm were the leading owners while Dr Vijay Mallya-owned Captain Cook was honoured with the ‘Champion Horse’ tag. The ‘horse-of-the-season’ title was bestowed upon Evesham from the famed red-and-gold stable of Vijay Singh, who fetched Robert Gowli four wins during Vijay’s suspension period.

The main event, The Credit Squeeze Cup run over 2000 metres, saw Bharath Singh-trained Shourisha (Declaration Of War – Minivet/ Lingwood Stud) reverse the earlier verdict over his nearest rival Romantic Flow with a degree of comfort. Without a pacemaker in the four-horse field, Romantic Flow once again did all the running, but on this occasion, Dashrath was wise to his earlier tactics and did not permit him to give the slip. He stayed in touch till the distance post where a couple of cracks was sufficient to overhaul the front-runner and put the issue beyond doubt.

The only other race over 2000 metres, The Pompano Handicap, saw Scarborough Fair installed as the firm favourite but the blue-blooded daughter of China Visit out of  Pricewise came to a standstill when asked for an effort by ace jockey PS Chouhan. The favourite’s start-to-finish attempt came to nought in the straight as Bharath Singh’s Bold As Brass (Win Legend-Westlem Whisper/ Dashmesh Stud) sailed past her with Dashrath in the saddle.

A recent addition to the Rutherford Alford stable is a four-year-old chestnut gelding from Pune named Hudson Hawk (Black Cash – Wikhed Idea/ Nanoli Stud). Even with leap-year-jockey Sk Israil on his back, he made mincemeat of the local lot in The Poles Apart Handicap (pun intended). Though the gelding had never traversed a trip over five furlongs prior to this race, he pocketed the seven-furlong race with ludicrous ease despite the presence of several monsoon season winners in the field of nine. The favourite Flourishing Move was a distant seventh. None of the local sprinters like Conquest or War Games could match strides with the ‘Hawk’ who simply flew away from the field after improving his position gradually from the fourth slot while Resolution called the early shots.

Trainer Farley Rodrigues had a fairly profitable afternoon with a double. The first of his winners, A Ma Shukum (Ivory Touch-A’ma Jaju/ Mare Haven Stud), created quite a sensation by winning the opener, The Celestial Gift Handicap, from top-weight Bang Bang.  The favourite Zurvan retired to third spot after a forward run while A Ma Shukum took over the running at the top of the straight and held on to his advantage under the experienced Surjeet Singh.

Rodrigues-trained Legende Indienne (Win Legend- Somethingabouther/ Dashmesh Stud) won the sprint for The Affection Handicap start to finish despite shifting off a straight course. Running in his maiden start, four-year-old Warsaw Ace finished an impressive second. Though there was quite a gamble on rank outsider Passionate, it came apart after the distance post, till which time she was in touch with the front-runner.

Trainer Vijay Singh too notched up a brace with Romantic Magic and Cool Hunter, both piloted by champion jockey Shailesh Shinde. The former, a handsome bay colt by Multidimensional out of Magical Romance (Usha stud), had to win a hard-fought race over the other fancied runner Amazing Maria. The duo fought tooth and nail down the straight and at the wire, Romantic Magic had his neck in front. It was a creditable showing over a metric mile, considering that he had only a single outing prior to this run which he had won conclusively. After winning back-to-back races with ease, the filly Amazing Maria was finally tested and measured by her rival.

Arti Doctor’s Dussehra was the rage of the ring in the afternoon and season’s final race, The La Gitana Handicap. However, the front-running filly had no answer to the rousing gallop raised by top-weight Cool Hunter (Multidimensional-Cool Cover/ Usha Stud) who had to stave off a persistent challenge from Bharath Singh-trained Forest Dunes mid-way up the straight. Now that the colt has seen the winning post, he may give a better account of himself in the winter season which commences a little over two weeks later.