The huge gulf of experience between Christopher Alford and the others who take to the saddle on the local track was exposed time and again on Saturday as the ace rider notched up four wins in dramatic fashion, including the afternoon’s blue riband – The Deepak Khaitan Memorial Calcutta Gold Cup. The four mounts which he guided past the winning post were Fly With The Wind, Free Energy, Mr Gorgeous and Jupiter. All four are under the care of saddler Vijay Singh who added another to the tally when Shailesh Shinde piloted Amazing Legend to a hard-fought triumph.

The day’s feature, The Deepak Khaitan Memorial Calcutta Gold Cup, run over the metric mile, saw Alford at his best. His mount Mr Gorgeous was fighting for his head from the outset and Alford did extremely well to cover him up along the rails and settle him down while stablemate and bottom-weight Glamorously waged a losing battle up front with top-weight 6/4 favourite Acclaimed. The front-running duo were followed by Torch Bearer and Acrider. In the rear, boxed in along the rails was the son of Mr Mellon out of Drop Dead Gorgeous (Ruia Stud). The order remained virtually the same till heads turned for home, where the big-boned bay lengthened his strides under a couple of reminders from Trevor Patel. During those few seconds, Alford had improved his position considerably but rather inconspicuously along the rails. At the distance post, Trevor was going hell for leather and did not think much of the somewhat narrow gap between his mount and the rails. So well was he travelling that he even wrong-footed the commentator who declared that the race was as good as over. What happened next was amazing. Alford had squeezed Mr Gorgeous  through along the narrow gap, barely a foot away from Acclaimed and merely kept tapping his mount with the whalebone on the right hip, even while riding him out in hands-and-heels fashion. It was in sharp contrast to the flashing whip of Trevor on Acclaimed. Mr Gorgeous responded magnificently as he pulled away from the public choice in the final 100 metres.

The red-and-gold colours of the Khaitan family thus recorded a back-to-back double as one race earlier, Alford had guided home Free Energy (Phoenix Tower – Freefall/ Manjri Stud) to victory in a blanket finish featuring Astaire and Bullet. Aptly named The Dandified Cup after one of Alford’s two favourite horses (the other being Arktouros), the sprint over six-furlongs saw Rising Power bring the field into the straight but drifting out badly, taking those on his outside with him. This left a dream opening for Free Energy and Alford wasted no time in taking in taking the initiative. He staved off strong challenges from both Astaire and Bullet to win by the skin of his teeth.

The day started with Alford showing his opportunistic side and picking up a race that he never should have won. The favourite Earnest Ruler (Rebuttal-Farha/ Nakul Stud) was slow into his stride by three lengths or so and subsequently given a horrendous ride by apprentice Azharuddin. The lad made up the lost ground during the course of the 2000 metres race but took the bend considerably wide before taking the lead in the straight. He however failed to maintain the pressure on his mount and Fly With The Wind came on with a second wind to pip her adversary at the post. They say that the morning shows the day and so it was for Christopher Alford on this occasion as all the narrow verdicts went in his favour.

Alford’s last of four winners was Jupiter (Stern Opinion – Ran Wa) in the JJ Stephens Memorial Cup, and it opened the account of the ‘J’- group at this centre. It was once again to Alford’s credit that he could get the better of the 10-to-6-on favourite Pujarin. Realising that he needed a head start over the favourite at the mouth of the home stretch, Alford positioned Jupiter up with the front-runner and took a two-length lead at the top of the straight. Kamlesh’s stick on Pujarin reduced the verdict to half-length but the race was as good as lost well before that. Calcutta’s short straight will make you pay more often than not if you give the centre’s leading rider an unwarranted break on a front-runner.

After notching up more than a half-century of wins during the Pune season, Trevor Patel has to be recognised as one of the country’s best riders. Unfortunately, at this centre, he has not been declared on mounts worthy of his skills. It was just as well that the hard-riding lad accepted his ride on Farley Rodrigues-trained Legende Indienne (Win Legend-Somethingabouther/ Dashmesh Stud) in the sprint for The Audi Kolkata Cup. Unnerved by the long lead taken by the favourite Juliana (Munna Alam up), Trevor brought his mount with giant strides near the distance post and put paid to the pretensions of the public choice.

The Bengal Club Calcutta Juvenile Stakes went Amazing Legend’s way after Shailesh Shinde refused to relent when challenged strongly by Midnight Star. The full-brother to  Suzanna (Win Legend-Just Amazing) also completed a hat-trick for the Dashmesh Stud farm in the first three races of the afternoon.

Robert Gowli brought the exciting afternoon to an end when his Glamorous Glory (Mull Of Kintyre-Savoy/ Sohna Stud) was judiciously handled by apprentice Hindu Singh to win The Bold Chieftan Handicap at odds of 7/1. Among the fancied runners, Cafe Rio was the most impressive.